Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
Job outlook for border patrol agents in the United States
Border patrol agent job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected border patrol agent job growth rate is 3% from 2018-2028.
About 20,600 new jobs for border patrol agents are projected over the next decade.
Border patrol agent salaries have increased 10% for border patrol agents in the last 5 years.
There are over 3,536 border patrol agents currently employed in the United States.
There are 43,748 active border patrol agent job openings in the US.
The average border patrol agent salary is $46,060.
Are border patrol agent jobs in demand?
Border patrol agent job and salary trends over time
Border patrol agent jobs over time
Border patrol agent job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,536 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 3,479 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 3,528 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 3,503 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 3,514 | 0.00% |
Average border patrol agent salary over time
Border patrol agent salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $46,060 | $22.14 | +3.8% |
| 2024 | $44,381 | $21.34 | +2.9% |
| 2023 | $43,137 | $20.74 | +0.5% |
| 2022 | $42,905 | $20.63 | +2.3% |
| 2021 | $41,942 | $20.16 | +2.3% |
Border patrol agent jobs by state
Most common states for border patrol agents
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delaware | 961,939 | 153 | 16% |
| 2 | Vermont | 623,657 | 98 | 16% |
| 3 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 287 | 15% |
| 4 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 201 | 15% |
| 5 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 154 | 15% |
| 6 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 946 | 14% |
| 7 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 82 | 14% |
| 8 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 824 | 13% |
| 9 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 529 | 13% |
| 10 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 406 | 13% |
| 11 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 134 | 13% |
| 12 | Arizona | 7,016,270 | 835 | 12% |
| 13 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 107 | 12% |
| 14 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 88 | 12% |
| 15 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 1,412 | 11% |
| 16 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 1,276 | 11% |
| 17 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 610 | 11% |
| 18 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 465 | 10% |
| 19 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 166 | 10% |
| 20 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 70 | 10% |
Border Patrol Agent job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of border patrol agent experts
Jill Myers
Director of the School of Law Enforcement and Justice AdministrationWhat general advice would you give to a Border Patrol Agent?
Jill Myers: The more skill sets you have the better prepared you will be for future advancement and salary increases. Having a solid education, a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and a masters degree will sometimes result in increased wages. Having federal certifications and competencies will enhance your opportunities and create potential marketability for your career. It is always a great skill set to have people skills, communication in both written and oral formats. It will enhance your ability to explain yourself in court, in the warrants one prepares, and with dealing with the public in all circumstances from victims and witnesses and suspects, to legislators, the funding sources like mayors and city council and the public at large.
What will help Border Patrol Agents increase their earning potential?
Jill Myers: I believe that knowledge of the legal limits of technology usage will increase dramatically over the next few years and decades. There are few crimes that do not involve investigations impacted by technological and cyber transactions. The ability to conduct cyber investigations, not computer programing or computer systems security per se, will increase the success of an investigation. Additionally, as disasters are increasing more frequently than ever before, both natural disasters (tornadoes, floods, fires, biological like COVID) and human made ones (mass shootings, war, terrorism), all of public safety must understand emergency management protocols, NIMS, hazmat responses, search and rescue, etc.