---
title: "Government Careers"
description: "Careers typically employed by federal, state or local government: public safety, regulators, inspectors, postal and tax roles, legislators and the people…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/government-careers"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Government Careers

Careers typically employed by federal, state or local government: public safety, regulators, inspectors, postal and tax roles, legislators and the people who run public services. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages.

48 occupations, in the ranked order the career bank computed. Wages are BLS OEWS, May 2025. Growth figures are BLS Employment Projections and education is the BLS "typical education needed for entry".

| # | Occupation | Median annual wage | Projected growth | Typical education |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [Political Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/political-scientist) | $142,080 | -2.0% | Master's |
| 2 | [City Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/city-manager) | $105,770 | +5.0% | Master's |
| 3 | [Public Works Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-works-director) | $105,770 | +5.0% | Bachelor's |
| 4 | [Defense Acquisition Program Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/defense-acquisition-program-manager) | $102,320 | +6.7% | Bachelor's |
| 5 | [Foreign Service Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/foreign-service-officer) | $101,860 | +10.1% | Bachelor's |
| 6 | [Legislative Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/legislative-director) | $101,860 | +10.1% | Bachelor's |
| 7 | [Transportation Planner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-planner) | $101,110 | -0.2% | Bachelor's |
| 8 | [Bridge Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bridge-engineer) | $100,840 | +6.4% | Bachelor's |
| 9 | [Traffic Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/traffic-engineer) | $100,840 | +6.4% | Bachelor's |
| 10 | [Postmaster](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postmaster) | $96,660 | -0.3% | High school |
| 11 | [Intelligence Operations Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/intelligence-operations-officer) | $93,790 | +0.2% | Bachelor's |
| 12 | [Open Source Intelligence Analyst](https://nuecareer.com/careers/open-source-intelligence-analyst) | $93,790 | +0.2% | Bachelor's |
| 13 | [First-Line Supervisor of Firefighting and Prevention Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-firefighting-and-prevention-workers) | $93,530 | +3.7% | Certificate |
| 14 | [Emergency Management Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/emergency-management-director) | $93,330 | +3.9% | Bachelor's |
| 15 | [Affordable Housing Developer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/affordable-housing-developer) | $89,320 | +3.9% | Master's |
| 16 | [Floodplain Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/floodplain-manager) | $89,320 | +3.9% | Master's |
| 17 | [Hazard Mitigation Planner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hazard-mitigation-planner) | $89,320 | +3.9% | Master's |
| 18 | [Transit Planner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transit-planner) | $89,320 | +3.9% | Master's |
| 19 | [Urban and Regional Planner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/urban-and-regional-planner) | $89,320 | +3.9% | Master's |
| 20 | [Facility Security Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/facility-security-officer) | $83,050 | +3.9% | Bachelor's |
| 21 | [Personnel Security Adjudicator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/personnel-security-adjudicator) | $83,050 | +3.9% | Bachelor's |
| 22 | [ADA Coordinator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ada-coordinator) | $80,730 | +3.8% | Bachelor's |
| 23 | [Compliance Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/compliance-officer) | $80,730 | +3.8% | Bachelor's |
| 24 | [Equal Opportunity Representative and Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/equal-opportunity-representative-and-officer) | $80,730 | +3.8% | Bachelor's |
| 25 | [Government Property Inspector and Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/government-property-inspector-and-investigator) | $80,730 | +3.8% | Bachelor's |
| 26 | [Community Land Trust Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/community-land-trust-director) | $80,390 | +7.2% | Bachelor's |
| 27 | [Parks and Recreation Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/parks-and-recreation-director) | $79,520 | +6.0% | Bachelor's |
| 28 | [Contracting Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/contracting-officer) | $77,710 | +6.0% | Bachelor's |
| 29 | [Lobbyist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/lobbyist) | $74,750 | +1.8% | Bachelor's |
| 30 | [Public Information Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-information-officer) | $74,750 | +1.8% | Bachelor's |
| 31 | [Boiler Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/boiler-inspector) | $74,690 | 0.0% | High school |
| 32 | [Bridge Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bridge-inspector) | $74,690 | 0.0% | High school |
| 33 | [Certified Access Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/certified-access-specialist) | $74,690 | 0.0% | High school |
| 34 | [Certified Welding Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/certified-welding-inspector) | $74,690 | 0.0% | High school |
| 35 | [Construction and Building Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-and-building-inspector) | $74,690 | 0.0% | High school |
| 36 | [Elevator Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/elevator-inspector) | $74,690 | 0.0% | High school |
| 37 | [Grants Management Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grants-management-specialist) | $72,550 | +5.5% | Bachelor's |
| 38 | [Appraiser and Assessor of Real Estate](https://nuecareer.com/careers/appraiser-and-assessor-of-real-estate) | $67,960 | +3.5% | Bachelor's |
| 39 | [Transportation Security Screener](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-security-screener) | $66,770 | -4.2% | High school |
| 40 | [FOIA Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/foia-officer) | $62,890 | -0.3% | Associate's |
| 41 | [Postal Service Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-clerk) | $62,130 | -0.3% | No formal credential |
| 42 | [Military Chaplain](https://nuecareer.com/careers/military-chaplain) | $60,810 | +2.4% | Master's |
| 43 | [Postal Service Mail Carrier](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-mail-carrier) | $60,550 | -0.3% | No formal credential |
| 44 | [Firefighter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/firefighter) | $59,280 | +3.7% | Certificate |
| 45 | [Traffic Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/traffic-technician) | $59,090 | +4.0% | High school |
| 46 | [Postal Service Mail Sorter, Processor, and Processing Machine Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/postal-service-mail-sorter-processor-and-processing-machine-operator) | $58,470 | -5.3% | No formal credential |
| 47 | [Eligibility Interviewer, Government Programs](https://nuecareer.com/careers/eligibility-interviewer-government-programs) | $54,210 | +1.6% | High school |
| 48 | [Public Safety Telecommunicator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-safety-telecommunicator) | $53,040 | +3.7% | High school |

Full record for any row, including wage percentiles and state-level pay: https://nuecareer.com/careers/{slug} or https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/{slug}.

---

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/collections/government-careers