Public Affairs

What the Numbers Say About Public Affairs

0.3% of the federal civilian workforce (2,289,472 employees total, March 2025) works in the Public Affairs occupation (OPM code 1035): 7,623 people, headcount up 0.1% versus 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.

Average tenure in Public Affairs runs 11.9 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Pay averages $120,238 per year, 9.4% above the $109,869 federal civilian average and up 1.7% from the prior period, a modest shift, consistent with routine locality pay and grade-level movement.

Public Affairs sits inside the Information and Arts Group family (code 10), which contains 16 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Public Affairs 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.

Public Affairs makes up 38.3% of the 19,923 employees across the Information and Arts Group family, ranking #1 of 16 occupations in that family by headcount. Its average salary ranks in the top half (81st percentile) of pay among Information and Arts Group occupations.