Social Work

What the Numbers Say About Social Work

1.0% of the federal civilian workforce (2,289,472 employees total, March 2025) works in the Social Work occupation (OPM code 185): 23,864 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.

Social Work pays $107,137 per year on average, 2.5% 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 8.4 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.

Social Work sits inside the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family (code 1), which contains 28 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Social Work 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.

Inside the Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group family (28 occupations, 113,996 employees combined), Social Work holds the #2 spot by headcount, a 20.9% share of the family total. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (39th percentile) of pay among Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group occupations.