Veterans Claims Examining
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Veterans Claims Examining occupation series (code 996), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (March 2025).
The verdict
Veterans Claims Examining is a mid-sized federal occupation: 20,446 employees (0.9% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Legal and Kindred Group family. At an average salary of $86,773 it pays below the federal average of $109,869, and headcount declined 2.9% from the prior period.
- Employees
- 20,446
- Share of workforce
- 0.9%
- Avg salary
- $86,773
- Avg tenure
- 10.2 yrs
What the Numbers Say About Veterans Claims Examining
Federal agencies employ 20,446 people in the Veterans Claims Examining occupation (OPM code 996), accounting for 0.9% of the total federal civilian workforce of 2,289,472 for the March 2025 reporting window. Headcount in this occupation moved down by -2.9% 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.
Veterans Claims Examining pays $86,773 per year on average, 21.0% below the $109,869 federal civilian average, after moving up 4.3% 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 10.2 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.
Code 9, 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, 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.
Veterans Claims Examining makes up 15.3% of the 133,580 employees across the Legal and Kindred Group family, ranking #3 of 18 occupations in that family by headcount. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (39th percentile) of pay among Legal and Kindred Group occupations.
Employees
20,446
-2.9% from prior period
Average Salary
$86,773
+4.3%
Avg Length of Service
10.2 yrs
Occupation Family
Legal and Kindred Group
Salary Context
How Veterans Claims Examining pay compares to the federal average of $109,869
Occupation Average
$86,773
Federal Average
$109,869
vs. Federal Avg
-21.0%
Where Veterans Claims Examining ranks on federal pay
Its average salary of $86,773 is higher than 51% of federal occupation series (324 of 634). The highlighted bar marks where Veterans Claims Examining sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 634 federal occupation series; Veterans Claims Examining ranks higher than 51%.
Related Occupations in Legal and Kindred Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Attorney | 43,533 | $170,777 | 12.4 yrs |
| Contact Representative | 36,864 | $60,188 | 7.9 yrs |
| General Legal and Kindred Administration | 9,754 | $79,549 | 10.9 yrs |
| Paralegal Specialist | 6,251 | $98,575 | 14.6 yrs |
| Legal Assistance | 4,124 | $64,987 | 11.4 yrs |
| Hearings and Appeals | 3,910 | $124,130 | 14.4 yrs |
| Passport and Visa Examining | 2,086 | $88,692 | 10.2 yrs |
| Legal Instruments Examining | 1,570 | $67,013 | 11.2 yrs |
| Administrative Law Judge | 1,384 | $205,877 | 20.1 yrs |
| Claims Assistance and Examining | 1,158 | $65,453 | 19.2 yrs |
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source: U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) FedScope Employment Cubes, March 2025. Federal civilian non-seasonal full-time and part-time employees. Data does not include military personnel, postal workers, or intelligence agency staff. Last updated: 2026-03-10.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
PlainGovJobs is rendered directly from OPM FedScope federal-workforce data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on OPM FedScope occupation-level employment records. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.