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Role hub · Compliance Officers

Compliance Officer: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of compliance officers earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$80,730
Hourly
$38.81
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Compliance Officers examine, evaluate, and investigate eligibility for or conformity with laws and regulations governing contract compliance of licenses and permits, and perform other compliance and enforcement inspection and analysis activities not classified elsewhere. The median pay is $80,730 a year ($38.81 an hour) (BLS, May 2025).

Median pay
$80,730
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
417,070
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 4 of 5
considerable preparation

Data Government data groups this job as Compliance Officers (O*NET-SOC 13-1041.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

Key facts

Compliance Officers at a glance

  • Compliance officers in the United States earned a median annual wage of $80,730 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for compliance officers in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of compliance officers in the United States to grow 3.8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimates that 64.4% of compliance officers in the United States had the ability to telework in 2025, a preliminary estimate of whether the job allows it, not a count of remote jobs.

    Source: BLS Occupational Requirements Survey, 2025 preliminary

Explore the role

Every page for Compliance Officers

SalaryCompliance Officers salary

BLS pay data for this occupation, by state and percentile.

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The work

What compliance officers do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Warn violators of infractions or penalties.
  2. Evaluate applications, records, or documents to gather information about eligibility or liability issues.
  3. Advise licensees or other individuals or groups concerning licensing, permit, or passport regulations.
  4. Prepare reports of activities, evaluations, recommendations, or decisions.
  5. Report law or regulation violations to appropriate boards or agencies.
  6. Confer with or interview officials, technical or professional specialists, or applicants to obtain information or to clarify facts relevant to licensing decisions.
Job requirements

What the job requires

Data BLS figures for compliance officers (SOC 13-1041), 2025 preliminary BLS Occupational Requirements Survey.

Telework available
64.4%
of workers had the ability to telework
Workday sitting
85.0%
mean share of the day required to sit
Most common strength level
Sedentary
84.0% of workers
Can pause work
97.8%
of workers could take short, unscheduled breaks
Self-paced workload
57.5%
of workers set their own workload
Employer-changed schedules
10.4%
of workers had schedules changed by the employer week to week

On TryHired lists: Remote careers · Desk jobs.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey. Estimates are preliminary; ranges are shown as published.

Where this career works

Industries that employ it

Data Share of all compliance officer jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).

  1. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals35.1% of all jobs in this occupation · -1.0% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $86,850
  2. Professional, scientific, and technical services9.5% of all jobs in this occupation · +12.5% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $100,520
  3. Insurance carriers and related activities5.6% of all jobs in this occupation · +6.0% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $83,630
  4. Management of companies and enterprises5.0% of all jobs in this occupation · +4.6% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $96,620
  5. Administrative and support services4.7% of all jobs in this occupation · +3.0% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $72,690
  6. Credit intermediation and related activities4.6% of all jobs in this occupation · +6.7% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $94,090

Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.

Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Reading ComprehensioncoreSpeakingcoreActive ListeningcoreWritingJudgment and Decision MakingSocial PerceptivenessCritical ThinkingMonitoringPersuasion

Knowledge areas: Law and Government, English Language, Customer and Personal Service, Public Safety and Security, Computers and Electronics, Administration and Management.

Tools and technology

Software compliance officers use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Digital imaging system softwareGraphics or photo imaging software
  • Document scanning softwareOptical character reader OCR or scanning software
  • Driving simulatorsComputer based training software
  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft OutlookElectronic mail softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft PowerPointPresentation softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft WordWord processing softwareIn demand
  • Microsoft AccessData base user interface and query softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft WindowsOperating system softwareHot technology
  • Commercial driver's license information system CDLISData base user interface and query software
  • Computer-assisted testing softwareData base user interface and query software

Also called: Driver Examiner, Driver License Agent, Driver License Examiner, Examiner, License Examiner, License Registration Examiner.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).

How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.