Salaries of United States Military Personnel

We’ll start out with the basic allowances given to both enlisted and officers. These allowances are just meant to cover things like food and groceries, so they’re generally pretty small. Enlisted personnel receive around $420 a month to spend on groceries and food. On the other hand, officers get around $266.18 a month, but their salaries are generally a bit higher than enlisted, depending on things like experience and rank.

It might not seem like much, but $1,186 per month isn’t too bad when you consider that cadets and midshipmen are just students attending an academy. It’s basically sort of like being a college student and being paid to attend university. Factor into that students stay on campus and have free lodging, and it starts to sound like it is not such a bad deal, especially compared to more traditional colleges. 

If you’ve just enlisted, then you can usually expect to earn around $1,650 a month starting out. These E-1s are called privates if you’re talking about the Army or the Marine Corps. In the Air Force and Space Force, they’re called Airman Basics, while the Navy and Coast Guard refer to them as Seamen Recruits. No matter their name, they all receive around the same amount of money per month. 

After getting promoted from an E-1, your salary gets a bit of a bump, and you start earning around $2,000.70 a month. The average time it takes to get from an E-1 to an E-2 is around nine months, or right after you get out of basic. The name of this rank depends on what branch you’ve joined, with the Army referring to their E-2s as private second class and the Marines calling it private first class. 

This is where experience starts to play a bit more of a role in the pay scale since it’s possible to stay at one of these ranks for more than a year or two. E-3s who have less than three years of experience get $2,103.90 a month, while those with more years of experience get a small bump to $2,371.80. These are lance corporals in the Marines and private first classes in the Army. 

The salary gap widens a lot more for E-4s with or without years of experience. For those with less than two years of experience, they receive $2,330.40 a month. Service members with more years of experience can make as much as $2,829 a month. In the Air Force and Space Forces, these can be senior airmen, while in the Marines, they’re usually still corporals. They can be specialists or corporals in the Army. 

It takes some dedication to make it all the way to an E-5, and your salary starts to reflect that. To make an E-5, you have to have been enlisted for at least two years, depending on the branch, but it usually takes most people longer to make the rank. Both the Air Force and Space Force refer to their E-5s as staff sergeants, while the Marines and Army simply call them sergeants. 

If you’ve made it to an E-6, then you’re probably doing something right. These would be your staff sergeants in both the Army and the Marine Corps. They’re petty officers in the Coast Guard and Navy, and the Air Force and Space Force call them technical sergeants. The starting pay for an E-6 is around $2,774.40 a month, but that can rise to as much as $4,297.20 if you have more experience. 

An E-7 is toward the top of the scale for enlisted. They make anywhere from $3,207.60 to $5,765.40 a month, depending on how many years they’ve been in the service. These are your gunnery sergeants if you’re in the Marines and sergeant first classes if you’re in the Army. In the Coast Guard and Navy, they’re called petty officers, while the Space Force and the Air Force call them master sergeants. 

Achieving E-8 is so hard that only around 2% of the Air Force is ever allowed to be an E-8. They can typically expect to make around $4,614.60 to $6,581.40 per month, depending on their years in service. They’re senior chief petty officers in the Coast Guard and Navy, while the Air Force and Space Force call them senior master sergeants. In the army, they’re referred to as either master sergeant or first sergeant. 

An E-9 is the highest non-commissioned rank in each of the branches, and it’s extremely hard to achieve. A single E-9 from each branch is chosen to act as a sort of head of enlisted personnel for that branch. They make around $5,637 To $8,752.50 a month depending on the amount of time they’ve been in the service, and they make up just 1% of the members of each service. 

This next section is dedicated to specialty jobs that can often vary widely in pay despite rank. For example, air traffic controllers can be just about any enlisted rank, but they can make as much as $97,360 a year to make sure that all of the military’s aircraft are being deployed quickly and efficiently. They also make sure that airfields and ground centers are running smoothly, which is a huge responsibility. 

It might not sound like the most glamorous job in the military, but it’s one of the most important jobs in the military. Supply and warehouse managers pretty much do exactly what their title sounds like, but that’s a huge task for a military as large as the one the United States has, especially when so much focus is placed on logistics. Managers have to make sure things get to where they’re going quickly. 

There are a number of different specialties service members can receive training in after completing their basic training and the people who come up with the courses and curriculum for those specialties are called training specialists. They’re paid around $124,193, and they make sure that the troops who take the classes are well-versed in everything from explosives to tactics. There aren’t many of them though, with only around 228 specialists serving. 

The military has doctors, so it only makes sense that it also has a number of pharmacists serving in its ranks. There are around 676 pharmacists in the military, and they basically do everything that a civilian pharmacist does, which includes making sure service members receive the correct medicine they need and at the right dosages. They also have to be extremely knowledgeable about all of the medicine they’re giving out. 

Epidemiologists and infectious disease physicians are doctors and officers who work on figuring out everything there is to know about infectious diseases. They’re also on the front lines when the military is called in to help a civilian population with a pandemic or some kind of outbreak. That’s in addition to handling cases of biological warfare, so it’s a job with a ton of responsibility that’s reflected in the pay.

Chaplains hold a really unique position in the U.S. military. For starters, they usually hold a master’s degree of some kind in theology, and they’re technically officers. However, they don’t have the authority to command troops due to the country’s separation of church and state. Still, they’re viewed as the spiritual leaders of the units they serve in, and they can provide counseling if someone in the unit asks for it. 

At any point in time, the military is conducting all kinds of scientific experiments throughout all the branches, so it only makes sense that it would employ a number of physicists to conduct a lot of those experiments. There are around 437 physicists currently employed by the military, and they make around $130,580 a year on average. Of course, they have to have years of education in order to serve as physicist. 

Technology is a huge component of the modern military, which is why they employ around 1,226 programmers and developers to create systems and write code. They’re paid around $118,839 a year. A lot of the systems that they develop are custom-made for the military, and they’re made to be used on anything from an iPad to a fighter jet. They also work across all of the different branches of the military.

Social workers in the military perform a lot of the same tasks as social workers in the civilian world, but where they perform those tasks usually differs. Military social workers usually work with other military personnel and their families. However, they’re also called upon when the military is responding to a disaster of some kind. The average social worker in the military earns around $120,752 a year, depending on experience. 

Music composers and arrangers aren’t just the people who perform in military bands. They have the honor of actually creating original music for the military. As such, there are only around 27 of them across all of the branches, and they make an average of $126,026 per year. It requires a lot of knowledge about music and the history of music in the military, and it also takes a lot of dedication. 

Chemists have the immense responsibility of conducting studies that aid in protecting personnel and civilians from things like biological and chemical weapons. They make around $124,495 a year, and there are only 68 of them in the entire military, spread across all of the branches. Since there are so few of them, they’re often in charge of their own studies and are responsible for organizing everything associated with their experiments. 

Dental laboratory technicians are among the most well-compensated in the military because there are so few of them. The military only employs about 70 of them in total, and they do everything their counterparts in the civilian world do, including working on things like dentures and crowns. They typically make around $158,901 a year, and they can be found in all of the branches, working both on land and at sea. 

Nuclear engineers have one of the most important jobs in the military, and there are actually quite a few of them serving. There are around 726 service members who work as nuclear engineers, and they do things like make sure the nuclear reactors on board submarines and aircraft carriers are working as they should. They’re also responsible for fixing them in case something goes wrong, which is a very big responsibility. 

You don’t often think about judges when you think about the military, but there’s an entire special judicial system set up for military law. Judges are responsible for hearing cases involving court martials and other proceedings related to internal military affairs. Because of this, they have to be highly specialized in military law and have years of experience, sometimes practicing as a military prosecutor or defender. There are around 1,671 of them serving. 

It takes a lot of training to become a helicopter pilot in the military. They’re often charged with performing high-risk maneuvers close to enemy combatants and close to the ground, and they can often prove decisive in the conflict. Because of this, they earn $77,487 a year on average, and they either have to join as an officer or serve as an enlisted service member before they can get into flight school.

At first, it might seem surprising that the military employs podiatrists, until you consider that the feet and surrounding areas are often some of the most beaten up in the military. Soldiers have to walk or run long distances carrying heavy packs, and all of that can take a toll on their bodies. Podiatrists deal with sprained ankles, broken bones, soreness, and a whole host of other issues affecting service personnel.

The military has thousands of people working in healthcare fields, and they all need to be organized by healthcare administrators, who make some $110,826 per year. Administrators are responsible for everything from hospitals to smaller clinics, and they’re everywhere in the military, working across all six branches, making sure that personnel are getting the care that they need. There are around 3,591 of them in total, both at bases on land and on ships. 

Another really important job, human resource managers in the military have a lot on their plate. They’re in charge of both the good and the bad, and they’re responsible for making sure that service men and women are awarded when they perform well, or that they’re disciplined when they mess up. The job pays around $84,121 per year on average with that number varying depending on the amount of time someone has served. 

Military recruiters are responsible for making sure that all of the branches of the military are meeting their recruitment targets and that there’s a steady stream of new applicants signing up to join the military. You’ve probably seen them visiting high schools to sign people up and gauge interest or attending job fairs to tell people about opportunities in the military. Most of them make around $79,773 a year, but that number can vary with bonuses. 

Artillery and missile officers have one of the most important jobs on the battlefield. They’re basically in charge of directing artillery crews. That means that they need to have crews ready to fire, reload, and fire again, all within a very short time frame. They also have to know where to direct fire in order to avoid hitting fellow soldiers and ensure effective fire. All of this has to be done in a highly stressful environment. 

This next section is devoted to warrant officers, who are situated between enlisted personnel and commissioned officers. They’re basically enlisted who’ve been made officers due to their specialization or expertise in a certain field. W-1s are the lowest-ranked warrant officers, but they still make anywhere from $3,309.30 to $5,718.60 depending on their expertise and the amount of time they’ve served in the military. The only branches without W-1s are the Space and the Air Forces. 

The pay scale for W-2s is really dependent on how much experience someone has in the military. They can make anywhere from $3,770.40 to $6,293.10 per month, which means they can double their salary if they’ve served long enough. In every branch but the Air Force and Space Force, they’re called chief warrant officers, and like W-1s, they have to be extremely knowledgeable about whatever specialization they have to make W-2. 

A W-3 is also referred to as a chief warrant officer, but they’ve had their pay bumped up a bit, and they’re considered “advanced” in their specialization or field. They also usually assist others through the brigade level instead of the battalion level. Some examples of warrant officers include helicopter pilots who are automatically promoted to W-1 when they finish up with their pilot’s school. They take the same oath as commissioned officers. 

A W-4 is one of the highest levels an enlisted service member can achieve, and it comes with a nice bump in salary. Those serving as a W-4 can make anywhere from $55,990.80 to $104,292 a year, depending on how long they’ve been in the military. The only branches that do not have warrant officers at all are the Space Force and the Air Force, although both of them have indicated that may change in the future. 

This is the highest level of warrant officer that an enlisted soldier can get to. W-5s make around $8,296.20 to $10,856.40 a month, which ends up being $99,554.40 to $130,276.80 a year, depending on experience. Either way, it’s a massive pay boost over most of the other enlisted ranks, and it’s right up there with a lot of specialties and officer ranks. W-5s are highly respected for their knowledge and special responsibilities. 

Now, it’s time for the pay grades that make up the commissioned officer ranks. Starting off is O-1, which is basically someone who just graduated from the academy. At this level, there are some enlisted soldiers who outrank them due to their inexperience. However, they still make good money, bringing in anywhere from $3,385.80 to $4,260.60 a month. It usually takes around four years to graduate from an academy.

Any officer with an “E” at the end of their rank has spent some time serving as an enlisted member of the military. O-1Es are those who’ve served for at least four years before becoming commissioned officers in the military. They usually make anywhere from $4,260.60 to $5,289.90, depending on just how long they’ve been serving. While they’re still technically at the same pay grade as newly commissioned officers, they do make a bit more. 

This one is really simple in that you’re automatically guaranteed your O-2 if you’ve served for 18 months. O-2s are called first lieutenants in the Army, Marines, and Air Force, while the Coast Guard and Navy refer to them as lieutenant junior grades. However, they usually make around $3,901.20 to $5,398.50 a month or $46,814.40 to $64,782 a year. O-2s are still relatively inexperienced compared to a lot of other ranks. 

An O-2E is a formerly enlisted soldier who’s transferred to being an officer. They make more than their purely commissioned officer counterparts due to their experience, and they have to have served for at least four years as an enlisted member of the military. Similar to O-1Es and O-1s, this pay grade grants is a bit more prestigious due to the years of experience it takes to become an O-2E. 

The next pay grade for an officer is O-3, which is always classified as captain in all the branches but in the Navy and Coast Guard. In those two branches, they’re called lieutenants. An officer at this rank can expect to earn around $4,514.70 to $7,345.20 a month. Officers have a couple of different options when they reach this rank, including commanding up to 190 other service members in the field. 

This is the last officer designation that gets the “E” at the end, and those who have transferred from enlisted to officer earn around $6,022.80 To $7,839 every month, which is a large jump from just about anything a regular enlisted member can earn. As with similar ranks, you have to have served for at least four years as an enlisted member of the Armed Forces to be able to achieve O-3E. 

We’re getting to the halfway point when it comes to officer ranks, and the next one on the list is O-4. This is where you become a major in most branches but a lieutenant commander in the Navy or the Coast Guard. It’s also where you can start earning as much as $8,573.70 if you’ve already had a few years of experience under your belt before achieving the O-4 rank. 

O-5s can make up to $10,111.20 a month, depending on the number of years they’ve served, which equals out to around $121,000 a year. It’s quite an achievement, and it can sometimes take years to get to an O-5. In all branches but the Navy and Coast Guard, they’re referred to as lieutenant colonels. In the other two branches, they’re called commanders since the responsibilities somewhat differ out at sea. 

Colonels and Captains, depending on the branch you’re referring to, make as much as $12,638.40 per month. Colonels are generally responsible for brigades in land-based branches, sometimes commanding as many as 5,000 people, while captains can head up their own ships in the Navy and the Coast Guard. The exact amount of pay depends on how long either has been in the military, but both are well compensated for their service.

This is where you begin to see officers wearing stars. O-7s are called brigade generals in all of the branches, but in the Navy and the Coast Guard, they’re referred to as rear admiral lower half. Once you reach a brigadier general, you can earn as much as $14,065.80 a month, but it takes an extraordinary amount of dedication and time, and even then, you’re not guaranteed to be promoted to O-7.

O-8s are two-star generals who earn anywhere from $11,329.50 to $16,333.20 a month. They’re in charge of divisions, which can number as many as 15,000 soldiers, and they’re some of the most important people in the military since their decisions are felt by thousands of people. In all the branches but in the Navy and the Coast Guard, they’re called major generals. In both the Navy and Coast Guard, they’re called rear admirals.

O-9s are called lieutenant generals, or in the case of the Navy and Coast Guard, vice admirals. They wear three stars, and they’re the second highest rank that you can usually achieve in the military. As such, their salaries reflect this, and they’re paid around $192,150 to $199,299.60 a year, but most people in the military will never achieve O-9 since there are so few spots to go around. 

This is the highest rank that an officer can achieve, and it’s also the cap when it comes to the pay scale. O-10s wear four stars on their uniform, and they’re referred to as generals and admirals. They’re the highest-ranking military officials in their respective branches, and they earn up to $16,608.30 a month. Those who are picked to serve as O-10 have usually been in the military for more than 30 years.