Series 1896

Border Patrol Enforcement

Border Patrol agents who patrol the U.S. borders between ports of entry and stop people and contraband crossing illegally. Jobs are with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and have age limits and physical requirements.

Plain-language description based on the OPM series definition.

1800 Inspection, Investigation, Enforcement, and Compliance Group · General Schedule

See open 1896 jobs on USAJOBS Compare with another series Back to Series Directory

At a glance

Job postings, last 12 months: 689
Open now: 30
Trend (last 3 months vs. 3 before): Steady (+9%)
Demand score: 87/100
Remote opportunity score: 0/100
Veteran opportunity score: 4/100

What these scores mean

Grades and pay

Typical grades

GS-12 to GS-14

Most common promotion potential: GS-13

GS pay plan, used by 96% of this series' postings.

Typical posted salary range

$109,383 to $142,199 per year

Median of the yearly salary ranges in posted announcements.

Who can apply

Share of job postings in the last 12 months, by who the announcement was open to.

Open to the public: 3%
Federal employees and other special groups only: 97%
Listed a veterans hiring path: 4%
Telework eligible (open now): 0%
Fully remote (open now): 0%

Who is hiring and where

Top hiring departments

Department of Homeland Security (687)
Other Agencies and Independent Organizations (2)

Top states

Texas (223)
Arizona (71)
California (63)
Washington (44)
District of Columbia (42)

Hiring patterns

Based on job announcements since Mar 2017. How patterns are calculated

When this series usually posts jobs

Postings are spread fairly evenly through the year, so there is no clear best month to look.

Typical postings for series 1896 by calendar month, compared with an average month
Month	Compared with an average month
January	12% below average
February	5% above average
March	12% above average
April	7% below average
May	About average
June	6% above average
July	About average
August	9% above average
September	15% below average
October	About average
November	About average
December	8% below average

Postings by fiscal year

The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Fiscal years 2025 and 2026 include the government-wide hiring freeze that began in January 2025.

Job announcements for series 1896 by fiscal year
Fiscal year	Postings
FY 2018	494
FY 2019	511
FY 2020	510
FY 2021	594
FY 2022	685
FY 2023	586
FY 2024	603
FY 2025	602
FY 2026	728

Postings by month, last 12 months

Job announcements for series 1896 opened each month
Month	Postings
Dec 2025	43
Jan 2026	48
Feb 2026	49
Mar 2026	69
Apr 2026	48
May 2026	76
Jun 2026	46
Jul 2026	71
Aug 2026	87
Sep 2026	60
Oct 2026	64
Nov 2026 (month to date)	28

1801 General Inspection, Investigation, Enforcement, and Compliance 2,385 postings in 12 months
1802 Compliance Inspection and Support 1,429 postings in 12 months
1811 Criminal Investigation 1,214 postings in 12 months
1825 Aviation Safety 790 postings in 12 months
1862 Consumer Safety Inspection 434 postings in 12 months

About this data

Job numbers come from the USAJOBS API: 244,223 job announcements opened from December 1, 2025 to November 15, 2026, plus 12,260 announcements open on November 15, 2026. Canceled announcements are not counted. Series descriptions summarize the OPM Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families.

These figures describe posted job announcements, not hiring outcomes. Always read the official announcement and its qualification requirements before applying. How the scores are calculated.