Career
Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists
Supervise people on probation and help them rebuild their lives through accountability and support.
$66,270
Median pay
+3.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
7,900
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
- Prepare and maintain case folder for each assigned inmate or offender.
- Gather information about offenders' backgrounds by talking to offenders, their families and friends, and other people who have relevant information.
- Interview probationers and parolees regularly to evaluate their progress in accomplishing goals and maintaining the terms specified in their probation contracts and rehabilitation plans.
- Discuss with offenders how such issues as drug and alcohol abuse and anger management problems might have played roles in their criminal behavior.
- Supervise people on community-based sentences, such as electronically monitored home detention, and provide field supervision of probationers by conducting curfew checks or visits to home, work, or school.
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 people & care, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Prepare and maintain case folder for each assigned inmate or offender.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, 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 $66,270 a year and 7,900 openings nationally each year.
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Correctional Officers and Jailers$58,940 · -7.4%
- Child, Family, and School Social Workers$59,550 · +4.4%
- First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers$77,970 · -2.5%
- Rehabilitation Counselors$46,850 · +2.2%
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers$60,280 · +10.3%
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.