Language Specialist
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Language Specialist occupation series (code 1040), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
In the Information and Arts Group family, Language Specialist counts 864 employees, a smaller, specialized federal occupation at 0.0% of the federal civilian workforce, and headcount declined from the prior period; pay averages $117,705, which pays near the federal-wide average.
- Headcount change
- -2.3%
- Pay change
- +0.3%
- Avg tenure
- 11.8 yrs
- Rank in family
- #4 of 19
What the Numbers Say About Language Specialist
For job seekers weighing career length: this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. 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 small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change.
Language Specialist sits inside the Information and Arts Group family (code 10), which contains 19 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Language Specialist postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Information and Arts Group family. The Information and Arts Group family totals 14,755 employees, and Language Specialist accounts for 5.9% of them. Its average salary ranks in the top half (61st percentile) of pay among Information and Arts Group occupations.
Salary Context
How Language Specialist pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$117,705
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+0.3%
Where Language Specialist ranks on federal pay
Language Specialist earns more on average than 66% of federal occupation series (356 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Language Specialist sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Language Specialist.
Related Occupations in Information and Arts Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Affairs | 5,552 | $129,060 | 14.3 yrs |
| General Arts and Information | 2,759 | $126,733 | 14.5 yrs |
| Visual Information | 1,245 | $110,638 | 15.6 yrs |
| Technical Writing and Editing | 816 | $128,063 | 14.1 yrs |
| Writing and Editing | 760 | $138,055 | 15.2 yrs |
| Museum Specialist and Technician | 657 | $91,362 | 13.8 yrs |
| Audiovisual Production | 619 | $128,404 | 16 yrs |
| Museum Curator | 490 | $125,118 | 17.5 yrs |
| Interior Design | 355 | $105,579 | 11 yrs |
| Exhibits Specialist | 268 | $103,348 | 16.7 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Language Specialist outside the Information and Arts Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (864 here).
Similar average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($117,705 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Language Specialist 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 Information and Arts Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Language Specialist 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.