Patent Technician
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Patent Technician occupation series (code 1202): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
In the Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family, Patent Technician counts 5 employees, a smaller, specialized federal occupation at 0.0% of the federal civilian workforce; pay averages $95,669, which pays below the federal-wide average.
- Headcount change
- 0.0%
- Pay change
- 0.0%
- Avg tenure
- 29 yrs
- Rank in family
- #7 of 7
FedScope read on Patent Technician (thin series)
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 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. 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.
Code 12, the Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family, is where the federal government classifies Patent Technician alongside 6 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Patent Technician 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 Technician accounts for 0.0% of them.
Salary Context
How Patent Technician pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$95,669
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-18.5%
Where Patent Technician ranks on federal pay
Patent Technician earns more on average than 51% of federal occupation series (275 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Patent Technician sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Patent Technician.
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 Administration | 322 | $199,503 | 24.1 yrs |
| Patent Classifying | 33 | $189,888 | 21.5 yrs |
| Patent Adviser | 7 | $160,445 | 10.6 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this thin headcount
Two peer sets for Patent Technician outside the Copyright, Patent, and Trademark Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar thin headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (5 here).
Similar average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($95,669 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Patent Technician 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 Technician 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.