How to Become A Prison Officer: Step by Step Guide And Career Paths

What is a Prison Officer

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Prison Officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.25 an hour? That's $42,119 a year!

Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -7% and produce -31,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What Does a Prison Officer Do

There are certain skills that many Prison Officers 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 Detail oriented, Interpersonal skills and Physical strength.

How To Become a Prison Officer

If you're interested in becoming a Prison Officer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 33.3% of Prison Officers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.6% of Prison Officers have master's degrees. Even though some Prison Officers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Prison Officer. When we researched the most common majors for a Prison Officer, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or High School Diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Prison Officer resumes include Diploma degrees or Master's Degree degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Prison Officer. In fact, many Prison Officer jobs require experience in a role such as Correction Officer. Meanwhile, many Prison Officers also have previous career experience in roles such as Editor or Security Officer.

What is the right job for my career path?

Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.

Prison Officer Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of Security Officer you might progress to a role such as Officer eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title Senior Officer.

Average Salary for a Prison Officer

Prison Officers in America make an average salary of $42,119 per year or $20 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $50,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $34,000 per year.

Average Salary

$42,119

Find Your Salary Estimate

How much should you be earning as an Prison Officer? Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to get an estimation of how much you should be earning.

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Rank	Company	Zippia Score	Average Prison Officer Salary	Average Salary
1	1.U.S. Transport	4.0	$46,999
2	2.Virginia Department of Transportation	4.4	$42,119
3	3.St. Charles	4.1	$42,119
4	4.Rehabilitation Services	3.7	$42,119
5	5.Pueblo Community College	3.6	$42,119
6	6.US Marine	4.3	$42,119

1.U.S. Transport

4.0

$46,999

2.Virginia Department of Transportation

4.4

$42,119

3.St. Charles

4.1

$42,119

4.Rehabilitation Services

3.7

$42,119