Series 0185

Social Work

Social workers who help people cope with health, family, housing, and money problems by counseling them and connecting them to services. Most jobs require a master's degree in social work, and many also require a state license. Most federal social work jobs are with Veterans Affairs.

Plain-language description based on the OPM series definition.

0100 Social Science, Psychology, and Welfare Group · General Schedule

See open 0185 jobs on USAJOBS Compare with another series Back to Series Directory

At a glance

Job postings, last 12 months: 4,756
Open now: 270
Trend (last 3 months vs. 3 before): Steady (-2%)
Demand score: 99/100
Remote opportunity score: 32/100
Veteran opportunity score: 71/100

What these scores mean

Grades and pay

Typical grades

GS-9 to GS-12

Most common promotion potential: GS-11

GS pay plan, used by 97% of this series' postings.

Typical posted salary range

$93,537 to $124,093 per year

Median of the yearly salary ranges in posted announcements.

Who can apply

Share of job postings in the last 12 months, by who the announcement was open to.

Open to the public: 68%
Federal employees and other special groups only: 32%
Listed a veterans hiring path: 5%
Telework eligible (open now): 32%
Fully remote (open now): 0%

Who is hiring and where

Top hiring departments

Department of Veterans Affairs (4,009)
Department of Defense (280)
Department of the Navy (163)
Department of the Air Force (119)
Department of the Army (66)

Top states

California (371)
Texas (353)
Florida (328)
Washington (234)
Tennessee (211)

Hiring patterns

Based on job announcements since Mar 2017. How patterns are calculated

When this series usually posts jobs

Postings are spread fairly evenly through the year, so there is no clear best month to look.

Typical postings for series 0185 by calendar month, compared with an average month
Month	Compared with an average month
January	7% below average
February	About average
March	7% above average
April	About average
May	About average
June	About average
July	About average
August	8% above average
September	About average
October	10% above average
November	7% below average
December	6% below average

Postings by fiscal year

The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. Fiscal years 2025 and 2026 include the government-wide hiring freeze that began in January 2025.

Job announcements for series 0185 by fiscal year
Fiscal year	Postings
FY 2018	4,246
FY 2019	4,706
FY 2020	4,377
FY 2021	5,849
FY 2022	7,570
FY 2023	8,015
FY 2024	4,517
FY 2025	3,838
FY 2026	4,800

Postings by month, last 12 months

Job announcements for series 0185 opened each month
Month	Postings
Dec 2025	307
Jan 2026	319
Feb 2026	383
Mar 2026	435
Apr 2026	429
May 2026	448
Jun 2026	435
Jul 2026	456
Aug 2026	397
Sep 2026	427
Oct 2026	488
Nov 2026 (month to date)	232

0189 Recreation Aid and Assistant 3,802 postings in 12 months
0101 Social Science 2,569 postings in 12 months
0180 Psychology 2,229 postings in 12 months
0132 Intelligence 1,800 postings in 12 months
0188 Recreation Specialist 898 postings in 12 months

About this data

Job numbers come from the USAJOBS API: 244,223 job announcements opened from December 1, 2025 to November 15, 2026, plus 12,260 announcements open on November 15, 2026. Canceled announcements are not counted. Series descriptions summarize the OPM Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families.

These figures describe posted job announcements, not hiring outcomes. Always read the official announcement and its qualification requirements before applying. How the scores are calculated.