Compliance Officers

US occupation · SOC 13-1041

Job titles people report: Driver Examiner, Driver License Agent, Driver License Examiner, Examiner, License Examiner, License Registration Examiner, Licensing Analyst, Motor Vehicle Clerk, Public Service Representative (PSR), Transportation Services Representative (TSR)

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$80,730
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$61,280 – $109,010
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
417,070
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+3.8%
At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
Openings a year (projected)
32,700
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Bachelor's degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Examine, evaluate, and investigate eligibility for or conformity with laws and regulations governing contract compliance of licenses and permits, and perform other compliance and enforcement inspection and analysis activities not classified elsewhere.

Main tasks

  • Warn violators of infractions or penalties.
  • Evaluate applications, records, or documents to gather information about eligibility or liability issues.
  • Advise licensees or other individuals or groups concerning licensing, permit, or passport regulations.
  • Prepare reports of activities, evaluations, recommendations, or decisions.
  • Report law or regulation violations to appropriate boards or agencies.
  • Confer with or interview officials, technical or professional specialists, or applicants to obtain information or to clarify facts relevant to licensing decisions.

More specific O*NET® occupations under this one: Coroners, Customs Brokers, Environmental Compliance Inspectors, Equal Opportunity Representatives and Officers, Government Property Inspectors and Investigators, Regulatory Affairs Specialists.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Bachelor's degree
Training once hired: moderate-term on-the-job training
O*NET Job Zone 4
Considerable preparation
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
  • Enterprising: leading, persuading and making business decisions
  • Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 11 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Business

  • Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General
  • Labor and Industrial Relations

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Business at the Major step.

Where many students take business

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Health & Nursing

  • Medical Staff Services Technology/Technician
  • Regulatory Science/Affairs
  • Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Health & Nursing at the Major step.

Where many students take health & nursing

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Environmental Studies

  • Environmental Studies
  • Environmental Science
  • Environmental/Natural Resources Law Enforcement and Protective Services
  • Energy and Environmental Policy

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Environmental Studies at the Major step.

Where many students take environmental studies

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Criminal Justice

  • Suspension and Debarment Investigation

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Criminal Justice at the Major step.

Where many students take criminal justice

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Other fields

Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.

Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies

  • Environmental Geosciences

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk