Sports Specialist
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Sports Specialist occupation series (code 0030), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
In the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family, Sports Specialist counts 364 employees, a smaller, specialized federal occupation at 0.0% of the federal civilian workforce, and headcount edged up from the prior period; pay averages $83,884, which pays below the federal-wide average.
- Headcount change
- +0.6%
- Pay change
- +0.2%
- Avg tenure
- 15.3 yrs
- Rank in family
- #16 of 27
What the Numbers Say About Sports Specialist
For job seekers weighing career length: this series shows a long average tenure, typical of career federal roles where employees stay through much of a full career before retirement. 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. As for pay, the latest move was a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change.
Sports Specialist sits inside the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family (code 00), which contains 27 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Sports Specialist postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family. Across the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family, 92,278 employees work in 27 occupations; Sports Specialist is 0.4% of that headcount.
Salary Context
How Sports Specialist pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$83,884
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-28.5%
Where Sports Specialist ranks on federal pay
Sports Specialist earns more on average than 40% of federal occupation series (214 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Sports Specialist sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Sports Specialist.
Related Occupations in Miscellaneous Occupations Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security Administration | 15,507 | $125,293 | 15.4 yrs |
| Correctional Officer | 14,821 | n/a | 10.3 yrs |
| Police | 11,883 | n/a | 12.2 yrs |
| Emergency Management Specialist | 11,832 | $100,833 | 9.7 yrs |
| Fire Protection and Prevention | 8,848 | $74,762 | 14.6 yrs |
| Safety and Occupational Health Management | 5,704 | $117,177 | 16.3 yrs |
| Park Ranger | 5,202 | $75,210 | 10.6 yrs |
| Security Guard | 4,312 | $57,464 | 11.3 yrs |
| Environmental Protection Specialist | 4,157 | $127,481 | 15.2 yrs |
| Security Clerical and Assistance | 3,340 | $65,477 | 12.7 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Sports Specialist outside the Miscellaneous Occupations Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (364 here).
Similar average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($83,884 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Sports Specialist 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 Miscellaneous Occupations Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Sports Specialist 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.