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What is the average salary range for an ICE agent in 2025?
Executive Summary
The available datasets and job postings show that the average annual pay for ICE law‑enforcement roles in 2025 most commonly falls roughly between $90,000 and $113,000, while specific job titles and grades produce wider spreads from under $50,000 to over $160,000 when locality and special pay are included. Estimates cluster: private salary sites put Special Agents and Immigration Officers near $100K–$111K, ZipRecruiter and USAJOBS data show broader medians and advertised ranges, and OPM General Schedule tables explain how locality pay and grade drive the variation [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. Numbers that grab attention: apparent averages and common ranges
Salary aggregator reports published in May 2025 list role‑specific averages that converge around the low six figures for frontline enforcement roles: Special Agent at about $110,853 and Immigration Officer at about $102,519, each with typical ranges spanning roughly $89,000–$134,000 depending on role and location [1] [2]. A separate Criminal Investigator figure is lower at about $93,152 with a $70,160–$102,086 range, reflecting different job scopes and experience mixes [6]. These private estimates emphasize that many ICE enforcement positions effectively pay near or slightly above $100K before locality, overtime, or premium pays, and they highlight how job title matters for headline averages [1] [2] [6].
2. Official pay structure explains the variation—don’t ignore GS grades and locality
Federal pay rails come from the General Schedule and law‑enforcement special rates; the 2025 GS base table spans from the low tens of thousands to more than $160,000 at the top steps, and locality adjustments plus special law‑enforcement differentials substantially alter take‑home pay [5] [7] [8]. An ICE agent’s exact GS grade/step and duty locality often determine whether they fall near the reported $90K–$110K cluster or into much higher or lower territory, so advertised averages without grade or locality context can mislead. USAJOBS listings show entry or mid‑level positions with advertised ranges as low as about $49,739 to $89,528 for deportation officer classifications, illustrating that some titles and grades sit well below private‑site averages when posted as GL/GS ranges [4].
3. Private aggregators and marketplace data show broader spreads and city effects
Job market trackers like ZipRecruiter present a wider national distribution for “ICE agent” labels—ZipRecruiter’s September 2025 snapshot gives a mean near $90,223 with a wide $38,500–$146,500 span and city‑level spikes for high‑cost or undersupplied locations [3]. This highlights two consistent drivers: geographic locality pay differentials and sampling differences across data sources—aggregators may mix job titles, include overtime/primes, or sample different experience bands, producing different headline averages than private role‑specific reports [1] [3].
4. Compensation beyond base salary matters for real comparisons
ICE law‑enforcement compensation commonly includes Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP), Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUO), locality pay, and premium differentials for nights, weekends, and holidays; benefits and potential signing/retention bonuses also shift total compensation [9] [4]. A published Deportation Officer job announcement noting up to $50,000 signing/retention bonuses and GL‑5 to GL‑7 salary bands shows how non‑base pay can markedly change realized income, meaning that two agents with the same base GS grade could receive materially different annual incomes depending on overtime eligibility and local pay [4] [9].
5. How to interpret “average” for an ICE agent in 2025: a practical conclusion
Bringing the data together, the most defensible summary for a typical ICE enforcement role in 2025 is that role‑specific private estimates and marketplace medians center around $90K–$113K annually, while official GS tables and job postings explain why entry ranges can start below $50K and senior/special‑pay‑eligible roles can exceed $160K when steps and locality are included [1] [2] [3] [5]. For an accurate personal estimate you must identify the exact job title, GS/GL grade and step, duty location, and whether the position accrues special law‑enforcement pay or bonuses; absent those specifics, quoting the roughly $90K–$113K cluster best reflects the convergence of the cited sources [1] [3] [7].