Veterans Claims Examining
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Veterans Claims Examining occupation series (code 0996), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
Veterans Claims Examining is a mid-sized federal occupation: 18,099 employees (0.9% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Legal and Kindred Group family. At an average salary of $92,511 it pays below the federal average, and headcount edged down from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- -0.2%
- Pay change
- +0.3%
- Avg tenure
- 13.3 yrs
- Rank in family
- #3 of 18
FedScope read on Veterans Claims Examining (dense series)
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 down 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.
Code 09, the Legal and Kindred Group family, is where the federal government classifies Veterans Claims Examining alongside 17 related occupations. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Veterans Claims Examining postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Legal and Kindred Group family. Across the Legal and Kindred Group family, 110,958 employees work in 18 occupations; Veterans Claims Examining is 16.3% of that headcount. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (41st percentile) of pay among Legal and Kindred Group occupations.
Salary Context
How Veterans Claims Examining pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$92,511
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-21.2%
Where Veterans Claims Examining ranks on federal pay
Veterans Claims Examining earns more on average than 48% of federal occupation series (257 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Veterans Claims Examining sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Veterans Claims Examining.
Related Occupations in Legal and Kindred Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Attorney | 35,986 | $177,921 | 13.6 yrs |
| Contact Representative | 29,201 | $64,454 | 9.3 yrs |
| General Legal and Kindred Administration | 8,711 | $82,876 | 12.3 yrs |
| Paralegal Specialist | 5,165 | $107,719 | 15.8 yrs |
| Legal Assistance | 3,326 | $69,159 | 12.5 yrs |
| Hearings and Appeals | 3,231 | n/a | 15.9 yrs |
| Passport and Visa Examining | 2,035 | $92,682 | 11.3 yrs |
| Legal Instruments Examining | 1,261 | $73,021 | 11.7 yrs |
| Administrative Law Judge | 1,189 | $208,642 | 20.7 yrs |
| Claims Assistance and Examining | 925 | $67,330 | 18.9 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Veterans Claims Examining outside the Legal and Kindred Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (18,099 here).
Similar average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($92,511 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Veterans Claims Examining 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 Legal and Kindred Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Veterans Claims Examining 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.