Photography
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Photography occupation series (code 1060): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
With 234 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce), Photography ranks as a smaller, specialized federal occupation within the Information and Arts Group family, and headcount declined from the prior period. Its average salary of $105,460 pays below the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -6.8%
- Pay change
- +0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 16 yrs
- Rank in family
- #12 of 19
What the Numbers Say About Photography
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.
Code 10, the Information and Arts Group family, is where the federal government classifies Photography alongside 18 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Photography postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Information and Arts Group family. Photography makes up 1.6% of the Information and Arts Group family's 14,755 combined employees.
Salary Context
How Photography pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$105,460
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-10.1%
Where Photography ranks on federal pay
Photography earns more on average than 57% of federal occupation series (309 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Photography sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Photography.
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 |
| Language Specialist | 864 | $117,705 | 11.8 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 |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Photography 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 (234 here).
Similar average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($105,460 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Photography 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 Photography 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.