Fish and Game Wardens

Like all federal employees, those who work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earn salaries as prescribed by law. Service employees are classified either as "general schedule" (GS) or as "wage grade" (WG). General schedule employees, the professional, technical, administrative, and clerical workers, receive annual salaries based on GS grades 1 through 15. Starting salaries for special agents and wildlife inspectors are at the GS-7/9/11 level, which ranged from $37,301 to $55,204 in 2020. The top pay scale for special agents and wildlife inspectors is GS-13, which offered salaries that ranged from $78,681 to $102,288. There are some areas in the United States that have an additional geographic locality pay.