How To Become A Narcotics Agent: What It Is and Career Path

What is a narcotics agent and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a narcotics agent. For example, did you know that they make an average of $31.66 an hour? That's $65,852 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreNarcotics AgentUS Average

Salary

5.1

Avg. Salary $65,852

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.67%

Asian 2.83%

Black or African American 11.92%

Hispanic or Latino 16.99%

Unknown 5.00%

White 62.60%

Gender

female 11.93%

male 88.07%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a narcotics agent

Explore narcotics agent education requirements

Most common narcotics agent degrees

Bachelor's

39.8 %

Associate

28.4 %

Master's

11.4 %

Start to develop specific narcotics agent skills

Skills	Percentages
Patrol	17.49%
Criminal Investigations	14.18%
Crime Scenes	10.89%
Law Enforcement Agencies	10.50%
Electronic Surveillance	9.29%

Complete relevant narcotics agent training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New narcotics agents learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a narcotics agent based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real narcotics agent resumes.

Research narcotics agent duties and responsibilities

Conduct joint planning and manage AFOSI's criminal investigations and counterintelligence operations in northern Italy.
Conduct searches of all Latin American and Caribbean AA flights inbound and outbound for illegal narcotics and firearms.
Review all complete DEA integrity/misconduct investigations, shooting investigations, accidents with government vehicles and property loss or damage negligence/liability reports.
Conduct joint planning and manage AFOSI's criminal investigations and counterintelligence operations in northern Italy.

Prepare your narcotics agent resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your narcotics agent resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a narcotics agent resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable narcotics agent resume templates

Build a professional narcotics agent resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your narcotics agent resume.