Salary Guide for U.S. Border Patrol Agents
With more than 8,000 miles of land and sea border to protect, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Homeland Security relies upon border patrol agents to help keep America's borders impermeable to smugglers, criminals and other undocumented entrants. Although many border patrol agents work at crossing stations between the United States and Canada or Mexico, many others are tasked with patrolling and securing borders in remote areas.
Other People Are Reading
-
Starting Salaries
-
U.S. Customs and Border Protection pays recruits differently depending upon their education level and previous military or law enforcement experience. New border patrol officers are hired at pay grades of GL-5, GL-7 or GL-9, and receive base pay dependent upon their pay rank. As of 2011 a GL-5 earns $38,619 annually as base pay, a GL-7 earns $40,429 each year and a GL-9's annual base pay is $49,029 each year. In addition to base pay, border patrol agents also are eligible to receive federal law enforcement availability pay, which provides an additional 25 percent of base pay to certain law enforcement officers to compensate for round-the-clock scheduling.
Veteran Salaries
-
Officers with Customs and Border Protection may advance beyond the entry-level pay grades associated with new border guards. To qualify for any position that pays more than the GS-11 level -- $50,287 as of 2011 -- applicants must come from within the agency and demonstrate a track record of notable service. Higher-level positions such as operations managers and auditors earn average annual salaries of $97,020 and $76,477, respectively, as of December 2010, according to PayScale.
-
Average Border Guard Salary
-
Border guards employed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection earn an average annual salary of $47,679 as of December 2010, according to PayScale, hinting that many border guards eventually are promoted to GL-9 pay grades. Police or sheriff's patrol officers employed by Customs and Border Protection earn a higher annual salary, with average annual earnings of $63,966 as of December 2010, according to PayScale.
Locality Pay
-
Similar to availability pay, locality pay is awarded as a percentage of a worker's base pay and is used to compensate workers who live in areas with high costs of living. Although locality pay typically ranges between 15 and 25 percent for most cities, it may be as high as 32.53 percent in San Francisco and Oakland. The average locality pay figure is 13.18 percent.
-
