---
title: "Custom and Border Protection Officer"
description: "Investigate and inspect persons, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the United States or between states to detect…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/custom-and-border-protection-officer"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Custom and Border Protection Officer

**Category:** Protective Service · **SOC code:** 33-3051 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 33-3051.04

Investigate and inspect persons, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the United States or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations.

Also advertised as: Canine Enforcement Officer (K-9 Enforcement Officer); Customs Inspector; Customs Officer; Import Specialist; Special Agent; US Customs and Border Protection Officer (US CBPO).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $76,210 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $36.64/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $47,510 to $115,120, with the middle half between $59,290 and $97,600
- **Total US employment:** 670,520
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.1% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 53,700 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 38/100 — 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 670,520 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $47,510 |
| 25th | $59,290 |
| 50th (median) | $76,210 |
| 75th | $97,600 |
| 90th | $115,120 |
| Mean (average) | $79,200 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $118,880 | $107,370 | 65,940 |
| WA | $102,080 | $95,390 | 9,160 |
| IL | $100,520 | $100,562 | 29,180 |
| AK | $99,130 | $96,845 | 1,260 |
| CO | $97,350 | $94,467 | 9,610 |
| DE | $92,970 | $93,149 | 1,800 |
| NY | $92,790 | $85,980 | 53,470 |
| NJ | $92,610 | $85,116 | 21,780 |
| DC | $88,650 | $80,664 | 4,720 |
| OR | $88,140 | $85,274 | 5,030 |
| PA | $85,470 | $87,597 | 26,510 |
| HI | $83,820 | $76,234 | 2,420 |
| MN | $83,360 | $84,526 | 9,160 |
| CT | $82,170 | $79,307 | 6,500 |
| MA | $78,940 | $74,643 | 17,040 |

38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/custom-and-border-protection-officer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/custom-and-border-protection-officer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 698,800 in the 2024–2034 base year to 720,800 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 22,000 jobs, or +3.1%. About as fast as average: 3.1% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 53,700 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## 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 | 39.0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 27.2% |
| Some College Courses | 14.2% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 10.1% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 7.3% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 2.2% |

## What the work involves

- Detain persons found to be in violation of customs or immigration laws and arrange for legal action, such as deportation.
- Examine immigration applications, visas, and passports and interview persons to determine eligibility for admission, residence, and travel in the U.S.
- Interpret and explain laws and regulations to travelers, prospective immigrants, shippers, and manufacturers.
- Inspect cargo, baggage, and personal articles entering or leaving U.S. for compliance with revenue laws and U.S. customs regulations.
- Locate and seize contraband, undeclared merchandise, and vehicles, aircraft, or boats that contain such merchandise.
- Record and report job-related activities, findings, transactions, violations, discrepancies, and decisions.
- Determine duty and taxes to be paid on goods.
- Institute civil and criminal prosecutions and cooperate with other law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of those in violation of immigration or customs laws.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.6 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 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Law and Government — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.9 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 Conventional (C), Enterprising (E), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.27 |
| E — Enterprising | 4.29 |
| R — Realistic | 3.39 |
| I — Investigative | 2.64 |
| S — Social | 2.60 |
| 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 | 89.3 |
| ISTJ | 83.3 |
| ISFJ | 75.6 |
| ESFJ | 75.1 |
| ESTP | 61.1 |

Best-fitting types: ESTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Customs Broker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/customs-broker) — median $80,730
- [Detective and Criminal Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/detective-and-criminal-investigator) — median $93,790
- [Police Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/police-officer) — median $76,210
- [Compliance Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/compliance-officer) — median $80,730
- [Transit and Railroad Police](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transit-and-railroad-police) — median $90,230
- [Transportation Security Screener](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-security-screener) — median $66,770
- [Private Detective and Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/private-detective-and-investigator) — median $51,220
- [Cargo and Freight Agent](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cargo-and-freight-agent) — median $52,260
- [First-Line Supervisor of Police and Detectives](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-police-and-detectives) — median $106,040
- [Government Property Inspector and Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/government-property-inspector-and-investigator) — median $80,730

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 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, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 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 30.3 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/custom-and-border-protection-officer