Police

What the Numbers Say About Police

As of the March 2025 reporting window, 13,676 people work in the Police occupation (OPM code 83) across federal agencies, 0.6% of the 2,289,472-strong federal civilian workforce. Headcount moved down by -1.3% from the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.

Police pays $80,813 per year on average, 26.4% below the $109,869 federal civilian average, after moving up 2.5% from the prior period (a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce). Employees in this role stay an average of 9.6 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.

The Miscellaneous Occupations Group family (code 0) groups Police together with 25 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Police postings should also review these sibling occupations, since federal hiring managers often cross-post positions across closely related codes when recruitment is difficult. All figures here come directly from OPM FedScope Employment Cubes, the same official source referenced in federal workforce planning, budget justifications, and GAO reports.

Within the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family, Police is one of the top 26 occupations by headcount (#3), accounting for 12.9% of the family's combined 105,611 employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (31st percentile) of pay among Miscellaneous Occupations Group occupations.