Protect the president and other leaders, and investigate financial and cyber crime, for the United States Secret Service. Expect a long hiring process and years of moves.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $93,790 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $55,390 at the lower end to about $160,540 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 6 years after high school, on the usual route.
From nothing up to about $48,000, depending on the route, for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$93,790
Bottom tenth
$55,390
Top tenth
$160,540
The 2025 federal wage survey has no separate line for Secret Service agents. These are the figures for all detectives and criminal investigators: a median of $93,790 a year, with the bottom tenth at $55,390 or less and the top tenth at $160,540 or more. Agents themselves are paid on published federal tables.
From $57,188
2026 base pay at law enforcement grade 7, the entry grade, step 1
That is the lowest local rate. In the Washington area the same step pays $65,435. With a master's degree or a year of investigative experience you can start a grade higher, at $63,780 to $72,977. Pay is set by the table and cannot be negotiated.
$106,437 to $158,322
2026 base pay at General Schedule grade 13, the top of the normal career ladder
The range runs from the lowest local rate to the top step in the Washington area. Agents can also get up to 25% more on top for being available for unscheduled duty, a payment set in federal law.
Roughly, all in
Nothing to $48,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
Training costs you nothing: you are a paid employee at both academies. The low end is qualifying on a year of investigative or protective work experience instead of a degree, which the Secret Service accepts. The high end is about four years of in-state public university tuition, roughly $12,000 a year, for a bachelor's degree with good grades, the usual route. Paying out of state rates costs more. The agency can repay up to $60,000 of qualifying student loans.
File the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for the degree part. The Secret Service can repay up to $60,000 of qualifying student loans.
Up to 25% extra pay
Law enforcement availability pay, for being on call for unscheduled duty.
Student loan repayment
Up to $60,000 of qualifying loans, plus up to $10,000 a year toward a degree in some cases.
Paid leave
13 to 26 days of annual leave a year depending on service, plus 13 days of sick leave and federal holidays.
An early federal pension
Law enforcement officers can retire at 50 with 20 years of service.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
There is no license. There is a hiring standard, a long security check and two academies.
High school
Grade 12
Keep your record clean. The background check will look at your driving, your credit, your school records and the people who know you.
A degree or real experience
1 to 4 years
A bachelor's degree with good grades, or a year of graduate study, or a year of investigative or protective work. You must be at least 21 to apply.
Apply and pass the first phase
A few months
Posted on the federal jobs site. A written entrance exam, a fitness test, an interview and a hiring panel, then a conditional job offer.
The security phase
6 to 9 months
A security interview, credit checks, a polygraph (lie detector) exam, a medical exam and a full background check for a Top Secret clearance.
Two academies
About 7 months
About 12 weeks of investigator training in Glynco, Georgia, then an 18-week Secret Service course at its own academy outside Washington.
Math and accounting
Counterfeiting, card fraud and bank fraud cases run on numbers.
Computer science
Much of the investigative work is now cyber crime: network break-ins, ransomware and online fraud.
A foreign language
Agents who test at a high level can get a one-time bonus of 25% of their pay.
Physical education
There is a fitness test to get in, and armed employees are tested again every three months.
You are a special agent because the Secret Service hired you. The published rules: be a citizen of the United States, hold a driver's license, see 20/20 in each eye with glasses or contacts, pass a hearing test, have no visible tattoos on the head, face, neck or hands, and qualify for a Top Secret clearance. You sign an agreement to work anywhere in the country or overseas. Your first appointment lasts 3 years and 120 days, and only then do you become a permanent employee.
Your education and experience decide your starting grade. Nothing else does.
Law enforcement grade 7, the entry grade
A bachelor's degree with good grades, a 3.0 GPA or honor society membership, or a year of graduate study, or a year of related work.
Law enforcement grade 9
A master's degree or a law degree, or a year of experience at the level below.
General Schedule grade 11
A doctorate, or a year of experience at the level below planning and running criminal investigations.
Things you don't need, but that help.
The recent graduate program
The agency recruits new graduates with a 3.0 GPA or better, or high class standing, through a separate program. Start in your last semester.
Fluency in another language
Speaking it well enough for professional conversations can earn a one-time bonus of 25% of your pay.
Military service
About one in five Secret Service employees is a veteran, and eligible veterans get preference in hiring.
Prior federal law enforcement
It can exempt you from the upper age limit.
A tattoo on your hand or neck
It must be removed, at your own cost, before you start. One small ring tattoo on one finger is allowed.
A domestic violence conviction
Even a misdemeanor one bars you, because agents must carry a firearm.
The entrance fitness test
Push-ups, sit-ups, an agility run and a 1.5 mile run, each scored 0 to 8. You need 20 points overall and no zero in any part.
Failing the entrance exam
You must wait three months before you can apply again.
The Secret Service also hires Uniformed Division officers, a separate police force that guards the buildings and venues secured for the people the agency protects. It is a different role with its own hiring and training. The agency employs about 3,600 special agents and 1,600 uniformed officers, and you are allowed to apply for both jobs at the same time.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Everyone starts in a field office, anywhere in the country, for at least three years. There you investigate financial crime: counterfeit money, card fraud, bank and wire fraud, and network break-ins. Then most agents move to a protective assignment in the Washington area for at least six years. After that comes a choice: back to the field, headquarters, training, or an office overseas.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The Secret Service was created in 1865 to stop counterfeiting. By the end of the Civil War, nearly one third of all the money in circulation was fake.
New agents spend at least three years in a field office before a permanent protective assignment. The protection most people picture comes later in the career.
You must be at least 21 to apply and under 40 when you are put forward for hiring. Federal law enforcement officers must also retire at 57 once they have 20 years of service.
Once hired, push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups and a 1.5 mile run are tested at the start, middle and end of training, and armed employees are tested again every three months for the rest of their careers.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Police and fire first, then the rest of the field. See every career in law and public safety.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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