Instrument Making
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Instrument Making occupation series (code 3314), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
With 1 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce), Instrument Making ranks as a smaller, specialized federal occupation within the Instrument Work Family family. Its average salary of n/a pays below the federal average.
- Headcount change
- 0.0%
- Pay change
- 0.0%
- Avg tenure
- 30.8 yrs
- Rank in family
- #5 of 5
FedScope read on Instrument Making (thin series)
Headcount moved sideways versus the prior period, though at this small a headcount, year-to-year swings can reflect a handful of hires or departures rather than a broad hiring trend. Pay moved sideways between the two reporting periods, a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change. On length of service, this series shows a long average tenure, typical of career federal roles where employees stay through much of a full career before retirement.
Instrument Making sits inside the Instrument Work Family family (code 33), which contains 5 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Instrument Making postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Instrument Work Family family. Across the Instrument Work Family family, 718 employees work in 5 occupations; Instrument Making is 0.1% of that headcount.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Instrument Making pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
n/a
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-100.0%
Where Instrument Making ranks on lean federal pay
Instrument Making earns more on average than 0% of federal occupation series (0 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Instrument Making sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Instrument Making.
Related Occupations in Instrument Work Family
4 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instrument Mechanic | 330 | $58,348 | 12.8 yrs |
| Precision Measurement Equipment Calibrating | 318 | $91,703 | 15.3 yrs |
| Optical Instrument Repairing | 66 | n/a | 12.7 yrs |
| Miscellaneous Instrument Work | 3 | $85,233 | 16.5 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this thin headcount
Two peer sets for Instrument Making outside the Instrument Work Family family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar thin headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (1 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families (n/a here).
Key takeaways
- Place Instrument Making 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 Instrument Work Family family occupations in the table above, or search current Instrument Making 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.