---
title: "Bailiff"
description: "Maintain order in courts of law."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/bailiff"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Bailiff

**Category:** Protective Service · **SOC code:** 33-3011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 33-3011.00

Maintain order in courts of law.

Also advertised as: Bailiff; Court Bailiff; Court Constable; Court Deputy; Court Officer; Court Security Officer; Deputy Bailiff; Deputy Court Services Sheriff.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $56,600 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $27.21/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $32,140 to $96,770, with the middle half between $43,720 and $74,630
- **Total US employment:** 17,310
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -1.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,600 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 59/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 17,310 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $32,140 |
| 25th | $43,720 |
| 50th (median) | $56,600 |
| 75th | $74,630 |
| 90th | $96,770 |
| Mean (average) | $61,660 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CT | $111,890 | $107,992 | 40 |
| AK | $90,600 | $88,512 | 60 |
| MA | $86,730 | $82,009 | 930 |
| WA | $78,290 | $73,159 | 180 |
| NY | $77,540 | $71,849 | 3,830 |
| NE | $76,090 | $84,448 | 50 |
| NV | $71,230 | $71,245 | 210 |
| KS | $69,390 | $77,042 | 450 |
| CO | $63,320 | $61,445 | 70 |
| ME | $62,800 | $64,709 | 110 |
| GA | $62,400 | $64,802 | 670 |
| VA | $62,290 | $61,610 | 320 |
| TX | $60,300 | $62,128 | 590 |
| MD | $59,470 | $56,660 | 410 |
| FL | $59,000 | $57,052 | 940 |

30 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 45 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/bailiff/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/bailiff.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 18,000 in the 2025–2035 base year to 17,700 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 300 jobs, or -1.9%. Declining: -1.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,600 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 39.9% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 33.4% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 20.8% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 5.9% |

## What the work involves

- Provide assistance to the public, such as directions to court offices.
- Enforce courtroom rules of behavior and warn persons not to smoke or disturb court procedure.
- Maintain order in courtroom during trial and guard jury from outside contact.
- Announce entrance of judge.
- Provide security by patrolling interior and exterior of courthouse and escorting judges and other court employees.
- Check courtroom for security and cleanliness and assure availability of sundry supplies, such as notepads, for use by judge, jurors, and attorneys.
- Arrest persons in court when arrest warrants have been issued.
- Screen persons entering courthouse using magnetometers, x-ray machines, and other devices to collect and retain unauthorized firearms and other contraband.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Selective Attention — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C), Enterprising (E).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 4.79 |
| C — Conventional | 4.48 |
| E — Enterprising | 4.00 |
| S — Social | 3.28 |
| I — Investigative | 2.16 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESTJ | 86.7 |
| ISTJ | 81.7 |
| ISFJ | 77.8 |
| ESFJ | 75.6 |
| ESTP | 64.8 |

Best-fitting types: ESTJ, ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Police Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/police-officer) — median $76,210
- [Correctional Officer and Jailer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/correctional-officer-and-jailer) — median $58,940
- [First-Line Supervisor of Police and Detectives](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-police-and-detectives) — median $106,040
- [Detective and Criminal Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/detective-and-criminal-investigator) — median $93,790
- [First-Line Supervisor of Correctional Officers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-correctional-officers) — median $77,970
- [Probation Officer and Correctional Treatment Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/probation-officer-and-correctional-treatment-specialist) — median $66,270
- [Transit and Railroad Police](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transit-and-railroad-police) — median $90,230
- [First-Line Supervisor of Security Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-security-workers) — median $55,940
- [Security Guard](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-guard) — median $38,020
- [Custom and Border Protection Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/custom-and-border-protection-officer) — median $76,210

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/bailiff