By: All Criminal Justice Schools Staff
Updated: January 7, 2026
Steps to become a probation officer
Read about probation officer roles, including required education and probation officer salary.
Probation Officer At a Glance
What you’ll do: Both parole and probation officers supervise offenders, either those placed on probation (people who serve their sentences outside of prison) or parolees (people who are released from prison to serve the remainder of their sentences among the general public—with certain restrictions).
Degree you’ll need: Bachelor’s degree
Certification: Some states require that parole and probation officers take certification tests during or after the completion of training. You’ll need to be a U.S. citizen over 20 years old, not be a convicted felon, and pass several competitive written, oral, psychological, and physical exams.
Median annual salary: $64,520
Probation officer duties
In the U.S., there are probation officer careers at the city, county, state, or federal level.
Depending on the jurisdiction, probation officers may or may not also be parole officers. Although they don’t wear uniforms, probation officers are usually issued a badge and may carry concealed weapons and pepper spray for protection.
Serving as the link to a variety of social services, probation and parole officers perform the following duties:
- They help their clients find the counseling, education, jobs, and housing necessary to become fully rehabilitated
- They strive to keep offenders drug- and alcohol-free, and prevent them from recommitting crimes
- They write reports to provide judges with important information to pronounce an appropriate sentence for each offender
- Testify at pretrial and parole board hearings to help explain their reports
- Responsible for investigating any violations of court-ordered sentences
To get a probation officer job, you’ll need excellent oral and written communication skills, and a broad knowledge of the criminal justice system. You’ll gain these skills in all accredited criminal justice degree programs. Officers must also be able to work with an extremely diverse population and wide variety of government agencies and community organizations, and accept the potential hazards of working closely with a criminal population.
Where do they work?
Probation officer education
To become a probation officer, you’ll need a 4-year bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, social work, psychology, or a related area. Many parole and probation officers have a master’s degree in criminal justice. In addition to their training, federal officers must also have at least two years of work experience.
Probation officer salary by state
With the added education requirements and required work experience, probation officers generally make more than correctional officers, with the figures below reported by the BLS.
Probation officer salaries across the U.S.
Here are the top-paying cities and metro areas for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists:
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024 Occupational Employment Statistics.
The salary information listed is based on a national average, unless noted. Actual salaries may vary greatly based on specialization within the field, location, years of experience and a variety of other factors. National long-term projections of employment growth may not reflect local and/or short-term economic or job conditions and do not guarantee actual job growth.