Soil Conservation Technician
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Soil Conservation Technician occupation series (code 0458): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
With 502 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce), Soil Conservation Technician ranks as a smaller, specialized federal occupation within the Biological Sciences Group family, and headcount edged down from the prior period. Its average salary of $59,217 pays below the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -0.6%
- Pay change
- +0.2%
- Avg tenure
- 11.6 yrs
- Rank in family
- #15 of 31
What the Numbers Say About Soil Conservation Technician
Headcount moved down versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path. Pay moved up between the two reporting periods, 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.
The Biological Sciences Group family (code 04) groups Soil Conservation Technician together with 30 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Soil Conservation Technician postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Biological Sciences Group family. Soil Conservation Technician makes up 0.7% of the Biological Sciences Group family's 67,961 combined employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (16th percentile) of pay among Biological Sciences Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Soil Conservation Technician pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$59,217
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-49.5%
Where Soil Conservation Technician ranks on lean federal pay
Soil Conservation Technician earns more on average than 14% of federal occupation series (74 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Soil Conservation Technician sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Soil Conservation Technician.
Related Occupations in Biological Sciences Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Natural Resources Management and Biological Sciences | 23,662 | $124,641 | 14 yrs |
| Forestry Technician | 11,090 | $61,659 | 8.7 yrs |
| Wildland Fire Management | 9,667 | $64,457 | 7 yrs |
| Biological Science Technician | 5,212 | $56,618 | 8.9 yrs |
| Soil Conservation | 4,101 | $89,391 | 13.8 yrs |
| Wildlife Biology | 1,868 | $95,468 | 16.3 yrs |
| Fish Biology | 1,629 | $116,550 | 16.2 yrs |
| Microbiology | 1,629 | $143,306 | 16.3 yrs |
| Forestry | 1,626 | $88,902 | 15.1 yrs |
| Ecology | 989 | $122,664 | 16.1 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Soil Conservation Technician outside the Biological Sciences Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (502 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($59,217 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Soil Conservation Technician 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 Biological Sciences Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Soil Conservation Technician 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.