Patent Administration
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the Patent Administration occupation series (code 1220).
The verdict
With 322 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce), Patent Administration ranks as a smaller, specialized federal occupation within the Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family, and headcount edged down from the prior period. Its average salary of $199,503 pays well above the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -0.9%
- Pay change
- -0.0%
- Avg tenure
- 24.1 yrs
- Rank in family
- #4 of 7
What the Numbers Say About Patent Administration
On pay, the move between reporting periods was 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. Headcount moved down 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.
The Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family (code 12) groups Patent Administration together with 6 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Patent Administration postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family. The Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family totals 10,490 employees, and Patent Administration accounts for 3.1% of them.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Patent Administration pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$199,503
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+70.0%
Where Patent Administration ranks on rich federal pay
Patent Administration earns more on average than 99% of federal occupation series (533 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Patent Administration sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Patent Administration.
Related Occupations in Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group
6 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patent Examining | 9,385 | $157,963 | 14.3 yrs |
| Patent Attorney | 373 | $202,357 | 17.8 yrs |
| Design Patent Examining | 365 | $137,602 | 9.3 yrs |
| Patent Classifying | 33 | $189,888 | 21.5 yrs |
| Patent Adviser | 7 | $160,445 | 10.6 yrs |
| Patent Technician | 5 | $95,669 | 29 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Patent Administration outside the Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (322 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($199,503 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Patent Administration 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 Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Patent Administration 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.