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What is the average salary range for ICE deportation officers in 2025?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows a wide range for ICE deportation-officer pay in 2025: ICE’s public vacancy postings list base pay tied to grade levels and note bonuses up to $50,000 [1] [2], news reporting and fact-checkers cite advertised salary bands roughly $49,739–$89,528 for certain 2025 listings [3] [4], while job-site aggregates put typical annual pay from about $59K–$103K (Glassdoor) to averages near $94K (Salary.com) and wide hourly spreads on ZipRecruiter [5] [6] [7] [8]. Coverage is inconsistent because federal grade/locality pay, bonuses, overtime and data sources differ [1] [2] [9].
1. What ICE itself publishes: grade-based pay and bonuses
ICE’s recruiting materials emphasize that base salary “corresponds to your grade level” and that employees may also receive locality pay, overtime and other pay differentials; job announcements for Deportation Officer repeatedly promoted signing and retention bonuses “up to $50,000” in 2025, which can materially affect total compensation [1] [2] [10].
2. Reported government/press figures: advertised salary bands
Major press reporting and a Snopes fact-check cite ICE listings and agency offers in 2025 that described deportation-officer salary ranges approximately between $49,739 and $89,528 for certain advertised positions; those same reports highlight the sign-on bonus and student-loan assistance as part of the recruitment pitch [3] [4].
3. Employer-review sites: higher medians and wider ranges
Glassdoor’s crowd-sourced data (October 2025) shows a typical annual pay range for Deportation Officer of roughly $59,353 (25th percentile) to $102,757 (75th percentile), with an average around $90,672 in one dataset and slightly different aggregates elsewhere [5] [6]. These figures reflect employee-reported pay and often include locality and overtime in “total pay” estimates [5] [6].
4. Salary data aggregators: divergent averages by method and geography
Salary.com reported an average Deportation Officer salary of $93,906 (Nov. 1, 2025) and provided higher median estimates in some cities (for New York, Salary.com showed averages above $100K), while ZipRecruiter’s nationwide hourly averages in 2025 ranged around $33/hour with state and city-level variation and extreme reported ranges in some samples [7] [11] [8] [12]. This divergence is driven by methodology (employer postings vs self-reported pay) and whether overtime, bonuses or locality pay are included [7] [8].
5. Why numbers vary so much — a quick explainer
Differences arise because: (a) federal pay is set by grade plus locality adjustments and overtime (ICE notes pay ties to grade and locality) [1]; (b) some figures reflect advertised base pay only, while others include bonuses, overtime and locality premiums [2] [3]; (c) private salary sites blend self-reports, job-posting data and model estimates that can over- or under-count special pay [5] [8] [7]. ICE’s own job announcements and USAJOBS postings are the primary source for advertised base ranges and bonuses [1] [2] [10].
6. How to interpret “average salary range” for 2025
If you mean advertised starting/base pay posted by ICE in 2025: reporting and fact-checking point to advertised bands in the roughly $49,739–$89,528 area for positions publicized that year [3] [4]. If you mean typical total annual pay reported by employees or aggregators: Glassdoor and Salary.com place typical/average annual pay broadly between about $59K and $103K (typical range) up to averages near $94K, with local markets (e.g., New York) often higher [5] [6] [7] [13].
7. Caveats, competing viewpoints and hidden incentives
ICE’s recruitment push (including large sign-on bonuses and loan help) was reported as a deliberate strategy to rapidly expand staff; critics warn large bonuses risk lowering hiring standards, while ICE and supporters argue the incentives are needed to meet operational demands—coverage explicitly records both the incentive program and attendant criticism [3]. Also, third‑party aggregators can present higher numbers that reflect more experienced officers, locality pay or overtime—so comparisons to teacher pay or private-sector roles can be misleading without standardizing what’s included [4] [5].
8. Practical guidance for someone seeking a precise 2025 number
For an authoritative, position‑specific figure in your locality, consult the exact USAJOBS/ICE vacancy announcement for that posting (ICE states pay corresponds to grade level and vacancy listings detail pay and bonuses) and cross‑check with ICE’s careers pages; use Glassdoor/Salary.com/ZipRecruiter only as supplementary context because methodologies differ [1] [2] [5] [7].
If you want, I can pull together a concise table showing the range of figures from ICE postings, BBC/Snopes reporting, Glassdoor, Salary.com and ZipRecruiter from the sources above so you can compare them side‑by‑side (using only the provided citations).