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Role hub · Correctional Officers and Jailers

Correctional 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 Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

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

Annual
$58,940
Hourly
$28.34
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Correctional Officers guard inmates in penal or rehabilitative institutions in accordance with established regulations and procedures. The median pay is $58,940 a year ($28.34 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a high school diploma or equivalent (92% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$58,940
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
380,500
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 2 of 5
some preparation
Most common education
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
92% of workers

Data Government data groups this job as Correctional Officers and Jailers (O*NET-SOC 33-3012.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

Explore the role

Every page for Correctional Officers

SalaryCorrectional Officer salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomeCorrectional Officer how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeCorrectional Officer resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsCorrectional Officer interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What correctional officers do day to day

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

  1. Conduct head counts to ensure that each prisoner is present.
  2. Inspect conditions of locks, window bars, grills, doors, and gates at correctional facilities to ensure security and help prevent escapes.
  3. 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.
  4. Search prisoners and vehicles and conduct shakedowns of cells for valuables and contraband, such as weapons or drugs.
  5. Guard facility entrances to screen visitors.
  6. Record information, such as prisoner identification, charges, and incidents of inmate disturbance, keeping daily logs of prisoner activities.
  7. Inspect mail for the presence of contraband.
  8. Maintain records of prisoners' identification and charges.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

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

Social PerceptivenesscoreActive ListeningcoreMonitoringcoreSpeakingCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionCoordinationPersuasionNegotiation

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

Tools and technology

Software correctional officers use

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

  • FacebookWeb page creation and editing softwareHot technology
  • Corrections housing softwareData base management system software
  • Adobe AcrobatDocument management softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft AccessData base user interface and query softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft Office softwareOffice suite softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft OutlookElectronic mail softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft PowerPointPresentation softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft WordWord processing softwareHot technology
  • 3M Electronic MonitoringData base user interface and query software
  • Guardian RFIDData base user interface and query software
  • Jail management softwareData base user interface and query software

Also called: Booking Officer, Community Services Officer (CSO), Corrections Officer (CO), Deputy Jailer, Detention Deputy.

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 correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. 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).