Career
Correctional officers and jailers
Keep order and safety inside jails and prisons.
$58,940
Median pay
-7.4%
Job growth, 2025–35
28,400
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Conduct head counts to ensure that each prisoner is present.
- Inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes.
- Monitor conduct of prisoners in housing unit, or during work or recreational activities, according to established policies, regulations, and procedures, to prevent escape or violence.
- Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs.
- Guard facility entrances to screen visitors.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Conduct head counts to ensure that each prisoner is present.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Monitoring, Speaking.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $58,940 a year and 28,400 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Criminal JusticeSee the degree →
- Criminal Justice and Corrections, GeneralCIP 43.0100
- CorrectionsCIP 43.0102
- Juvenile CorrectionsCIP 43.0110
- Corrections and Criminal Justice, OtherCIP 43.0199
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers$77,970 · -2.5%
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists$66,270 · +3.0%
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$76,210 · +3.5%
- Bailiffs$56,600 · -1.9%
- First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives$106,040 · +3.3%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.