Series 1315

Hydrology

Hydrologists who study rivers, groundwater, and rainfall to manage water supplies and forecast floods. Many jobs are with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA.

Plain-language description based on the OPM series definition.

1300 Physical Sciences Group · General Schedule

See open 1315 jobs on USAJOBS Compare with another series Back to Series Directory

At a glance

Job postings, last 12 months: 56
Open now: 1
Trend (last 3 months vs. 3 before): Rising (+80%)
Demand score: 50/100
Remote opportunity score: Not enough data
Veteran opportunity score: 80/100

What these scores mean

Grades and pay

Typical grades

GS-7 to GS-14

Most common promotion potential: GS-12

GS pay plan, used by 93% of this series' postings.

Typical posted salary range

$106,437 to $144,970 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: 54%
Federal employees and other special groups only: 46%
Listed a veterans hiring path: 36%
Telework eligible (open now): 0%
Fully remote (open now): 0%

Who is hiring and where

Top hiring departments

Department of the Army (18)
Department of the Interior (11)
Department of Commerce (10)
Department of Agriculture (6)
Other Agencies and Independent Organizations (6)

Top states

Oregon (13)
California (9)
Florida (5)
Texas (5)
Washington (5)

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 1315 by calendar month, compared with an average month
Month	Compared with an average month
January	About average
February	5% below average
March	About average
April	About average
May	About average
June	About average
July	About average
August	11% above average
September	About average
October	10% above average
November	8% below average
December	14% 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 1315 by fiscal year
Fiscal year	Postings
FY 2018	324
FY 2019	385
FY 2020	350
FY 2021	336
FY 2022	449
FY 2023	369
FY 2024	401
FY 2025	99
FY 2026	55

Postings by month, last 12 months

Job announcements for series 1315 opened each month
Month	Postings
Dec 2025	2
Jan 2026	1
Feb 2026	2
Mar 2026	7
Apr 2026	2
May 2026	3
Jun 2026	5
Jul 2026	7
Aug 2026	11
Sep 2026	8
Oct 2026	8
Nov 2026 (month to date)	0

1301 General Physical Science 1,161 postings in 12 months
1320 Chemistry 270 postings in 12 months
1310 Physics 207 postings in 12 months
1350 Geology 166 postings in 12 months
1311 Physical Science Technician 126 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.