Fish and Game Wardens Salary and Pay
How much do Fish and Game Wardens make?
Median pay for Fish and Game Wardens is $68,180 a year ($32.78); the mean is $67,990. The occupation employed 6,420 people in May 2024, and its middle band runs from $53,260 to $82,100.
The complete pay picture for Fish and Game Wardens: 6,420 jobs nationally, a median of $68,180, and the state and metro tables that show where that median is beaten and where it is not.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Every level in the picker is a published BLS figure for Fish and Game Wardens, not a national average. Annual-to-hourly conversions divide by 2,080 hours, the survey's full-time year; top-coded levels use $239,200, the floor BLS prints, so the true figure is higher.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $35,670 | $17.15 |
| 25th percentile | $53,260 | $25.60 |
| Median (50th) | $68,180 | $32.78 |
| 75th percentile | $82,100 | $39.47 |
| 90th percentile | $94,470 | $45.42 |
The five rows are five different workers in the same occupation, from the 10th percentile ($35,670) to the 90th ($94,470). BLS suppresses cells that fail its reliability rules (n/p here) and caps the highest wages at $239,200+ a year or $115.00+ an hour; in this ladder that top code appears at the very top rows only.
Employment and concentration
May 2024 employment stood at 6,420, or 0.00% of the U.S. total. Florida leads the state table with 730 jobs; the top three states sum to 24.6% of the occupation. The concentration measure tells the more interesting story: Wyoming posts a location quotient of 6.73, so a worker there is far more likely to meet a colleague in this field than the national pattern suggests.
Pay inside the occupation is wide: $58,800 separates the ends of its ladder. The 90th percentile ($94,470) is 2.6 times the 10th percentile ($35,670), a gap of $58,800 a year. The mean of $67,990 sitting near the median of $68,180 tells you the top end pulls the average up: most workers cluster below the mean, and the high tail is thin.
Pay by state
Sorted by employment, the table below puts Florida first at 730 jobs; sorted by median pay instead, Washington would lead at $115,400. Both orderings are printed in one table:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 730 | 0.1 | 1.79 | $34,380 | $32,760 |
| Texas | 480 | 0.0 | 0.83 | $77,910 | $81,880 |
| New York | 370 | 0.0 | 0.94 | $77,570 | $75,820 |
| Tennessee | 360 | 0.1 | 2.65 | $80,170 | $75,930 |
| California | 290 | 0.0 | 0.39 | $92,510 | $94,990 |
| Arizona | 250 | 0.1 | 1.88 | $48,730 | $45,000 |
| Georgia | 210 | 0.0 | 1.03 | $71,400 | $73,490 |
| Virginia | 210 | 0.1 | 1.25 | $63,040 | $60,000 |
| Louisiana | 180 | 0.1 | 2.22 | $55,280 | $51,370 |
| North Carolina | 180 | 0.0 | 0.89 | $58,490 | $57,950 |
| Alabama | 170 | 0.1 | 1.90 | $66,410 | $71,070 |
| Missouri | 170 | 0.1 | 1.38 | $60,410 | $61,780 |
| Indiana | 160 | 0.1 | 1.23 | $96,550 | $99,990 |
| Maine | 140 | 0.2 | 5.44 | $67,840 | $71,120 |
| Ohio | 140 | 0.0 | 0.63 | $76,500 | $76,870 |
| Nebraska | 130 | 0.1 | 2.95 | $61,210 | $57,370 |
| Iowa | 120 | 0.1 | 1.85 | $84,660 | $92,270 |
| Oklahoma | 120 | 0.1 | 1.72 | $56,210 | $54,290 |
| West Virginia | 120 | 0.2 | 3.97 | $61,860 | $59,630 |
| South Dakota | 110 | 0.2 | 5.93 | $65,240 | $63,450 |
| Washington | 110 | 0.0 | 0.72 | $106,440 | $115,400 |
| Hawaii | 90 | 0.2 | 3.64 | $76,200 | $70,840 |
| Idaho | 90 | 0.1 | 2.64 | $71,460 | $70,350 |
| Kansas | 90 | 0.1 | 1.53 | $63,360 | $61,840 |
| Arkansas | 80 | 0.1 | 1.42 | $68,520 | $70,100 |
| Kentucky | 80 | 0.0 | 0.93 | $55,610 | $52,980 |
| New Jersey | 80 | 0.0 | 0.47 | $68,890 | $64,930 |
| Wyoming | 80 | 0.3 | 6.73 | $69,240 | $74,060 |
| Connecticut | 70 | 0.0 | 1.01 | $65,330 | $62,530 |
| Delaware | 70 | 0.1 | 3.38 | n/p | n/p |
| Montana | 70 | 0.1 | 3.30 | $61,400 | $60,140 |
| Pennsylvania | 70 | 0.0 | 0.27 | $57,460 | $52,500 |
| Nevada | 50 | 0.0 | 0.77 | $83,980 | $84,280 |
| Vermont | 40 | 0.1 | 2.92 | $70,550 | $71,720 |
| Maryland | 30 | 0.0 | 0.30 | $88,420 | $87,180 |
| North Dakota | 30 | 0.1 | 1.76 | $78,560 | $80,220 |
| South Carolina | n/p | n/p | n/p | $68,890 | $69,360 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Fish and Game Wardens stands number 734 by employment and number 296 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Protective Service Occupations, the group median wage is $58,610 across 24 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 16% more than its group median, and it supplies 0.2% of the group's 3,654,920 jobs. In 20 of the 36 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $68,180, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL is the largest metro employer with 110 jobs, 1.7% of the national total. Two rankings follow across the 18 metros BLS publishes for this occupation: where the jobs are, then where the money is, with the pay ranking restricted to metros employing at least 500 people in this occupation to keep small samples out of the lead.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 110 | $33,270 | $32,760 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 90 | $69,030 | $66,750 |
| Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | 90 | $58,210 | $57,150 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 80 | $40,360 | $33,900 |
| Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN | 70 | $89,940 | $90,960 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 40 | $76,080 | $73,490 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | 40 | $98,560 | $102,990 |
| Jacksonville, FL | 40 | $33,420 | $32,760 |
| Knoxville, TN | 40 | $74,580 | $74,750 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 40 | $72,590 | $66,920 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
As a household number, $68,180 a year is $5,682 a month gross, $2,622 every two weeks, $1,311 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($53,260) to the 75th ($82,100) is worth $28,840 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. The next step from a gross figure is a net one: run the $5,682 monthly figure through the paycheck calculator applies your state's taxes, the salary calculator compares two offers in any unit, and the raise vs inflation calculator tells you whether a nominal raise is a real one.
To place a real offer: a salary of $74,998 would sit between the median ($68,180) and the 75th percentile ($82,100), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $53,260, is $14,920 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Protective Service Occupations
The occupations BLS groups with this one, by size: Bailiffs, Fire Inspectors and Investigators, Animal Control Workers, Gambling Surveillance Officers and Gambling Investigators, Parking Enforcement Workers, Transit and Railroad Police. Every one of the 826 published occupations is indexed on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median salary for Fish and Game Wardens?
$68,180 a year ($32.78), the middle wage among 6,420 counted workers in the BLS May 2024 estimates. The 75th percentile is $82,100 and the 90th is $94,470.
Where are Fish and Game Wardens jobs concentrated?
By headcount, Florida leads with 730 jobs; by concentration, Wyoming leads with a location quotient of 6.73, meaning the occupation is 6.73 times as dense there as nationally.
What do the top 10% of Fish and Game Wardens earn?
$94,470 a year or more. The gap between the 90th percentile and the median ($68,180) is the size of the senior and specialist premium in this occupation.
How does EveryCalc get Fish and Game Wardens pay data?
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS bulk files for May 2024 (national, state, and metropolitan), downloaded November 5, 2026. Nothing on this page is self-reported by workers or scraped from job postings.