Salary for a Probation Officer in Georgia

Facts

After completing a wages survey of probation officers in 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) established the countrywide average salary for the profession to be $46,530 per year. This is significantly higher than the salary earned by probation officers in the state of Georgia, which offered an annual state median wage of $35,090, a difference of $11,440 per year.

While not all of Georgia's 3,910 probation officers (as of May 2009) earned salaries so far below their counterparts in the nation, comparing the state and country's wage percentiles makes the differences more clear. Georgia's 90th percentile of highest earning probation officers earned salaries of $48,700 per year, which is much closer to the nation's 50th percentile average. At the bottom end of the scale, Georgia's 10th percentile of salaries in the field averaged $26,590 per year.

Each state regulates requirements for its probation officers. For Georgians interested in earning salaries as probation officers, the profession falls under the umbrella of the Georgia Department of Corrections (DOC). All candidates for DOC probation officer jobs must be at least 21 years old, U.S. citizens and have no felony convictions. A bachelor's degree is required, though majors in criminal justice, law or forensics are not required. All candidates are also subject to a battery of physical requirements, including 20/40 vision, color perception and hearing capacity. Prospective probation officers must take the state's Criminal Justice exam.

In part due to an increasing prison population, the BLS expects demand for probation officers across the country to grow 19 percent, adding 19,900 jobs to the field through 2018.