Social Services
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Social Services occupation series (code 0187): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
In the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family, Social Services counts 287 employees, a smaller, specialized federal occupation at 0.0% of the federal civilian workforce, and headcount edged up from the prior period; pay averages $64,911, which pays below the federal-wide average.
- Headcount change
- +0.7%
- Pay change
- -0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 13.3 yrs
- Rank in family
- #19 of 29
What the Numbers Say About Social Services
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 mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved up 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 Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family (code 01) groups Social Services together with 28 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Social Services postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family. The Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family totals 101,196 employees, and Social Services accounts for 0.3% of them.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Social Services pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$64,911
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-44.7%
Where Social Services ranks on lean federal pay
Social Services earns more on average than 20% of federal occupation series (107 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Social Services sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Social Services.
Related Occupations in Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Insurance Administration | 24,044 | $105,855 | 17.7 yrs |
| Social Work | 22,339 | $112,147 | 10 yrs |
| Social Science | 13,513 | $109,039 | 11.8 yrs |
| Intelligence | 12,860 | n/a | 15 yrs |
| Psychology | 10,259 | $144,240 | 10.7 yrs |
| Economist | 3,774 | $158,425 | 14.1 yrs |
| Foreign Affairs | 2,748 | $155,920 | 14.4 yrs |
| Health Insurance Administration | 2,443 | $149,476 | 15.3 yrs |
| Social Science Aid and Technician | 1,534 | $67,632 | 12.4 yrs |
| Archeology | 1,448 | $91,675 | 12 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Social Services outside the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (287 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($64,911 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Social Services 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 Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Social Services 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.