What are the highest and lowest paying locations for ICE agents in 2025?
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Executive Summary
The sources show no single city officially designated as the absolute highest- or lowest-paying location for ICE agents in 2025; instead pay is presented as broad salary bands that vary by rank, hiring incentives, and locality adjustments, with advertised ranges roughly from mid-$40,000s up to the low six-figures depending on role and bonuses [1] [2] [3] [4]. Public notices and reporting point to the highest nominal offers appearing in senior or returning-officer packages and in high-cost cities by implication, while entry-level deportation officer postings list the lower end of the advertised pay ranges [3] [1] [2].
1. Pay ranges reported — What the postings actually list and how they differ from headlines
USAJOBS postings for Deportation Officer list base ranges that multiple analyses record as roughly $49,739 to $89,528 or alternatively $63,148 to $101,860 depending on the vacancy announcement and grade, showing that job title and announcement date drive the published band rather than a single city premium [1] [2]. Salary aggregators and job-market reporting present overlapping figures: some resources place Deportation Officer entry ranges near the lower-mid band while Special Agent or senior Immigration Officer listings show averages and top-end figures nearer to $110k–$134k in some datasets [5] [4]. These differences reflect job series (deportation officer vs. special agent vs. returning officer), grade, locality pay, and advertised hiring bonuses, not one uniform geographic hierarchy [1] [3].
2. Where reporters and advocacy groups point to “highest” pay — implied city winners
Journalistic coverage of 2025 hiring notes large signing bonuses and elevated offers for returning officers and experienced hires — e.g., $50,000 bonuses and posted annual ranges up to $171,000 for certain returning-officer packages — and suggests these packages concentrate hiring in major urban centers such as New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, which inherently receive higher locality-adjusted pay and more vacancies [3] [6]. The reporting frames coastal megacities as likely top nominal pay locales because locality pay multipliers and cost-of-living differentials push total compensation higher there, compounded by recruitment incentives; however, the underlying official job announcements still publish ranges by grade rather than single-city salary tables [3] [6].
3. Where the “lowest” pay shows up in the record — entry-level and advertised minimums
Multiple vacancy notices and reporting identify the base or starting salary floors for some Deportation Officer announcements in the low-to-mid $40k–$60k range [1] [2] [4]. These figures appear across diverse locations but represent starting pay for the specific job series and grade, not necessarily the permanent take-home after locality pay or overtime. Analysts in the cited sources emphasize that the nominal lowest-paid postings are typically entry-level slots and that geographic variability is mostly a matter of locality adjustments and available incentives rather than fixed city-by-city pay charts [1] [4].
4. How bonuses and “returning-officer” packages skew the picture
Reporting from mid-2025 documents substantial hiring incentives — for example, new hires offered $63k–$102k plus $50k bonuses and returning officers reportedly being offered $105k–$171k plus $50k bonuses — which materially change who looks like the “highest paid” depending on whether bonuses and one-time incentives are included [3]. These figures show that headline top pay can reflect temporary recruitment structures rather than sustained locality-differential salary schedules; cities with concentrated hiring drives may bubble to the top of media lists because they host those incentive programs, which are policy choices rather than permanent pay-rate shifts [3].
5. Conflicting datasets and why they disagree — methodology matters
Salary aggregator pages and government vacancy postings use different methodologies: USAJOBS lists advertised grade bands for specific announcements, reporting outlets summarize incentives and advertised ranges in context, and private salary sites compile self-reported employee data to produce averages and maxima [1] [3] [4] [5]. This leads to apparent contradictions — e.g., one source giving a top figure near $134k for Special Agents while another lists deportation officers topping out under $90k — that are reconciled once you separate job series, grade, and bonus structures from pure locality pay [5] [2].
6. Bottom line for someone asking “which city pays most/least in 2025?”
Official postings and aggregator data do not name a single definitive highest- or lowest-paying city in 2025; instead the record shows higher nominal compensation concentrated in senior roles and in locales receiving locality pay and targeted recruitment incentives (notably large coastal metros), while entry-level deportation officer postings across many locations list the lowest advertised base ranges [1] [2] [3] [4]. For a precise city-by-city comparison one must consult the specific USAJOBS announcement (job series and grade), add locality pay tables for the locality in question, and factor in advertised hiring incentives — none of which are consolidated into a single authoritative city ranking in the provided sources [1] [3] [5].