History
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the History occupation series (code 0170).
The verdict
History is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 614 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family. At an average salary of $127,361 it pays above the federal average, and headcount declined from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- -8.9%
- Pay change
- -0.6%
- Avg tenure
- 15.5 yrs
- Rank in family
- #14 of 29
What the Numbers Say About History
For job seekers weighing career length: this series shows a long average tenure, typical of career federal roles where employees stay through much of a full career before retirement. Headcount moved down versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path. As for pay, the latest move was a modest shift, consistent with routine locality pay and grade-level movement.
History sits inside the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family (code 01), which contains 29 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for History postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family. Across the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family, 101,196 employees work in 29 occupations; History is 0.6% of that headcount. Its average salary ranks in the top half (52nd percentile) of pay among Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How History pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$127,361
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+8.5%
Where History ranks on rich federal pay
History earns more on average than 73% of federal occupation series (395 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where History sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks History.
Related Occupations in Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Insurance Administration | 24,044 | $105,855 | 17.7 yrs |
| Social Work | 22,339 | $112,147 | 10 yrs |
| Social Science | 13,513 | $109,039 | 11.8 yrs |
| Intelligence | 12,860 | n/a | 15 yrs |
| Psychology | 10,259 | $144,240 | 10.7 yrs |
| Economist | 3,774 | $158,425 | 14.1 yrs |
| Foreign Affairs | 2,748 | $155,920 | 14.4 yrs |
| Health Insurance Administration | 2,443 | $149,476 | 15.3 yrs |
| Social Science Aid and Technician | 1,534 | $67,632 | 12.4 yrs |
| Archeology | 1,448 | $91,675 | 12 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for History outside the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (614 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($127,361 here).
Key takeaways
- Place History pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family occupations in the table above, or search current History postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.