Career
Fish and game wardens
Protect wildlife and enforce the laws of the outdoors.
$74,060
Median pay
-5.7%
Job growth, 2025–35
500
Openings a year
Bachelor's degree
Typical education
4 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Participate in search-and-rescue operations.
- Compile and present evidence for court actions.
- Protect and preserve native wildlife, plants, or ecosystems.
- Patrol assigned areas by car, boat, airplane, horse, or on foot to enforce game, fish, or boating laws or to manage wildlife programs, lakes, or land.
- Investigate hunting accidents or reports of fish or game law violations.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Participate in search-and-rescue operations.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Speaking, Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
4 years of education after high school (bachelor's degree), for a median of $74,060 a year and 500 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement and Protective ServicesCIP 03.0208
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Range Managers
- Animal Control Workers$45,660 · +4.0%
- Conservation Scientists$73,010 · +5.3%
- Forest and Conservation Technicians$54,560 · -2.1%
- Forest and Conservation Workers$43,680 · -1.5%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.