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Fact check: What is the average salary for an experienced ICE officer in 2025?
Executive Summary
The available 2025 reporting and salary-site snapshots show no single definitive "average" for an experienced ICE officer; reported figures vary by role and source, ranging roughly from the high $70,000s to about $111,000, with locality pay, overtime, bonuses, and job title (Special Agent vs. Inspector vs. Deportation Officer) driving large differences [1] [2] [3]. Most recent independent salary estimates from 2025 place experienced Special Agents near $110,853 and Inspectors near $95,033, while news items and government job postings emphasize pay ranges, bonuses, and variability rather than one fixed average [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. Why you see different numbers — roles, locality, and pay components matter
Official and media sources describe substantial pay variability across ICE due to job title and location. Salary.com’s May 2025 snapshots list a median of $110,853 for a Special Agent with a reported range of $96,199–$134,483, while Inspectors average $95,033 with a narrower range of $87,854–$103,355; these show that internal role definitions produce materially different averages [2] [3]. Government hiring listings and news coverage report GS or locality-based ranges for Deportation Officer or agent postings from about $49,739 to $89,528 and note overtime and locality pay can push effective compensation higher, so headline averages omit common pay add-ons [4] [1].
2. Recent salary-site snapshots offer the highest "average" estimates
Independent compensation aggregators published in 2025 provide the clearest single-number estimates but still vary by occupational classification. Salary.com’s May 2025 estimate for an experienced Special Agent ($110,853) emerges as the upper bound among available sourced estimates; the site also supplies ranges to reflect location and qualifications, which suggests experienced agents in high-cost areas or with overtime can exceed that median [2]. These aggregator numbers are useful for snapshot comparison but should be treated as modeled estimates rather than payroll records, and they differ from media-cited averages closer to $79–$80k reported elsewhere [1].
3. Media reporting emphasizes ranges, bonuses, and recruiting incentives
Recent journalism from mid-to-late 2025 highlights that ICE has been offering significant hiring bonuses (reported up to $50,000) and is expanding recruitment, signaling that pay packages are increasingly variable and sometimes front-loaded with incentives [5]. News accounts referencing USAJobs and local reporting list advertised salary bands like $49,739–$89,528 for Deportation Officer openings and stress overtime and locality pay as common augmentations, which explains why published averages may understate take-home pay for experienced, overtime-eligible officers [4] [5].
4. Older or single-source reports produce lower averages; treat them cautiously
Some outlets and roundups produce lower average figures—one mid-2025 article referenced experienced agents earning up to about $76,687, and another media summary quoted similar mid-$70k to $80k averages—yet these pieces often lack a full breakdown by role, locality, or inclusion of bonuses and overtime [1]. Because these numbers omit common pay elements and vary by which ICE job classification they treat as the baseline, they can under-represent total compensation compared with salary-site estimates and government posting ranges [1] [4].
5. How to reconcile figures if you need a usable single number
To produce a practical working estimate, combine role-specific medians and pay drivers: use Salary.com’s $110,853 for experienced Special Agents as an upper bound and $95,033 for experienced Inspectors as a mid-range indicator, then recognize advertised hiring bands and bonuses that can push starting-to-experienced pay from the high $70ks into six-figure territory in some locales and with overtime [2] [3] [5]. Therefore, a defensible reporting range for an “experienced ICE officer” in 2025 is roughly $95,000–$111,000, conditional on job title and local pay adjustments.
6. What sources leave out and potential agendas to watch
Salary aggregators model compensation from job postings and self-reported data and may skew higher toward urban/high-cost jurisdictions; media pieces often highlight lower advertised base pay or headline recruiting bonuses to make political or policy points. News emphasizing large hiring bonuses may aim to critique or defend hiring policy, whereas aggregated salary sites frame pay as market estimates, so each source has an implicit agenda that affects which pay elements are foregrounded or omitted [5] [2].
7. Bottom line and recommended next steps for precision
If you need an exact payroll figure for a specific ICE position in 2025, consult the official USAJobs posting for that role or ICE’s HR/payroll guidance, then add locality adjustments, overtime rules, and any recruiting bonuses to the posted base. For broad reporting, cite a range—$95,000–$111,000 for experienced ICE law-enforcement roles—and specify whether you mean Special Agent, Inspector, or Deportation Officer because differences between those titles drive most of the variance reported across the sources above [2] [3] [4].