Inspectors general are responsible for coordinating activities that promote accountability, integrity, and efficiency in government. They provide direction for, supervise, and coordinate audits, investigations, and management reviews relating to the programs and operations. They keep management informed of fraud, abuses, and deficiencies and recommend corrective action concerning the aforementioned vices.

Inspectors general earn an average salary of $61,000 annually or $29 per hour. They perform lots of duties, including ensuring effective coordination and cooperation between the auditor general, federal auditors, and other governmental bodies to avoid duplication. They also conduct, supervise, or coordinate other activities carried out or financed by the state agency to promote the economy.

Inspectors general are usually appointed by the governor's chief inspector general. They are selected on some basis and experience in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, or other closely related fields. They are expected to have integrity and possess solid leadership and communication skills to boot.

What Does an Inspector General Do

There are certain skills that many inspectors general have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed dexterity, math skills and mechanical skills.

Learn more about what an Inspector General does

How To Become an Inspector General

If you're interested in becoming an inspector general, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 48.7% of inspectors general have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 16.0% of inspectors general have master's degrees. Even though most inspectors general have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become an Inspector General

Inspector General Career Paths

Average Salary for an Inspector General

Inspectors General in America make an average salary of $48,026 per year or $23 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $74,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $30,000 per year.
Average Inspector General Salary
$48,026 Yearly
$23.09 hourly

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Roles and Types of Inspector General

The role of an inspector general includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general inspector general responsibilities:

  • Examines raw materials for quality and manufactured items for defects
  • Assists the command inspector general (ig) in the collection of information from all sources, internal
  • Inspect a wide variety of precision machine parts for size, length, finish, hardness, concentricity, plating thickness

There are several types of inspector general, including:

Quality Control Inspector

Role:

Quality Control Inspectors are in charge of looking for defects in product specifications. While that may sound like it requires schooling, you really only need a high school degree because you'll go through on-the-job training, which will tell you everything you need to know.

Things may get a little dusty on the job. So you might want to invest in a good pair of goggles to wear. Maybe even a mask to cover your nose and mouth. There's no sense in covering your lungs in a layer of dust after all.

Speaking about being on the job, you'll most likely work in a manufacturing plant. The work environments are known to be a little loud, so maybe you want to bring some ear plugs as well. You know what? Just to be safe, you might just want to put yourself in a bubble. At least, that way you'll never get hurt, right?

  • Average Salary: $35,018
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Inspector

Role:

You probably already know from context clues that inspectors inspect things. Sure, the joke's not great but it's not inaccurate either. There are a lot of different types of inspectors out there. So what they're inspecting really depends on what type of inspector they are.

The fact that there are many different types of inspectors is truly a good thing for the career, though. While it means you have a tougher decision to make, it also means you have a lot of job opportunities to consider. The more opportunities, the better. We don't recall anyone complaining about too much job opportunity.

The attention is in the details for inspectors. Whether you're a quality control inspector, a parts inspector, a furniture inspector, or even a police inspector your job requires you to look at the fine print. Pay attention to the little things. You don't want to miss anything as an inspector, no matter how small it is.

  • Average Salary: $38,757
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Quality Inspector

Role:

This job seems pretty self-explanatory. I mean you are literally inspecting the quality of a product or material. While that's the case, there are some other duties you'll have as well.

Quality inspectors take a lot of time to conduct tests on certain products to make sure they're up to the task they were built for. Then they take the measurements into account to ensure the product has been measured properly.

Quite generally, quality inspectors will work along an assembly line or within a production department. That way they can take their measurements and conduct tests while a product is being built. Sometimes you'll find a product that just doesn't make the cut.

  • Average Salary: $33,197
  • Degree: High School Diploma

States With The Most Inspector General Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active inspector general jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where inspectors general earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Inspector General Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California4,858$50,565
2Pennsylvania2,174$52,159
3New York1,975$52,032
4Massachusetts1,229$49,932
5New Jersey1,024$55,557
6Washington865$55,229
7Oregon589$41,681
8Texas575$43,228
9Florida515$48,787
10Utah480$48,438
11Connecticut438$68,922
12Georgia380$40,995
13Ohio306$47,904
14Nebraska300$50,703
15Virginia278$52,790
16North Carolina272$44,439
17New Hampshire263$48,265
18Idaho237$44,252
19Maine236$43,842
20Indiana228$43,226
21Illinois214$36,426
22Colorado212$47,139
23Michigan201$48,998
24Delaware188$51,262
25Rhode Island182$53,966
26Maryland177$63,603
27Tennessee171$45,117
28Minnesota164$42,176
29Arizona157$53,737
30South Carolina149$44,808
31Missouri146$44,834
32South Dakota143$44,596
33North Dakota135$43,928
34Wisconsin121$38,770
35Kentucky109$45,517
36Alabama107$42,150
37Mississippi79$42,311
38Vermont77$44,895
39Louisiana70$62,479
40Nevada70$50,227
41Iowa67$44,821
42Kansas63$43,971
43Arkansas52$44,631
44Oklahoma51$51,864
45New Mexico49$53,388
46Montana44$44,206
47West Virginia41$46,760
48Hawaii14$37,577
49Wyoming11$41,629
50Alaska10$46,111

Inspector General Education

Inspector General Majors

24.7 %

Inspector General Degrees

Bachelors

48.7 %

Associate

18.6 %

Masters

16.0 %

Top Skills For an Inspector General

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 15.1% of inspectors general listed ig on their resume, but soft skills such as dexterity and math skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Inspector General Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Inspector General templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Inspector General resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Inspector General diversity

Inspector General Gender Distribution

Male
Male
69%
Female
Female
31%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among inspectors general, 30.8% of them are women, while 69.2% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among inspectors general is White, which makes up 55.8% of all inspectors general.

  • The most common foreign language among inspectors general is Spanish at 57.1%.

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Best States For an Inspector General

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an inspector general. The best states for people in this position are Connecticut, Maryland, Louisiana, and New Jersey. Inspectors general make the most in Connecticut with an average salary of $68,922. Whereas in Maryland and Louisiana, they would average $63,603 and $62,479, respectively. While inspectors general would only make an average of $55,557 in New Jersey, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Connecticut

Total Inspector General Jobs: 438
Highest 10% Earn:
$119,000
Location Quotient:
1.83

2. District of Columbia

Total Inspector General Jobs: 178
Highest 10% Earn:
$128,000
Location Quotient:
1.46

3. Pennsylvania

Total Inspector General Jobs: 2,174
Highest 10% Earn:
$89,000
Location Quotient:
2.58
Full List Of Best States For Inspectors General

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Top Inspector General Employers

Most Common Employers For Inspector General

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Department of Homeland Security$81,842$39.3513
2NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration$70,421$33.865
3U.S. Department of State$63,240$30.4010
4U.S. Environmental Protection Agency$62,360$29.985
5U.S. Department of the Treasury$60,176$28.9312
6U.S. Department of Defense$59,048$28.3910
7USAF Police Alumni Association$50,767$24.4150
8United States Marine Corps$50,689$24.3714
9National Guard$50,396$24.235
10Air National Guard$49,216$23.665

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