How to Become an FBI Agent: Requirements, Pay and Degree
How to become an FBI agent starts with a bachelor’s degree, which the FBI’s current posting requires. You also need to be 23 to 36 on appointment, pass a physical fitness test and a background investigation, and meet the posting’s work experience. The posted pay is $93,749 to $133,200 a year.
How to Become an FBI Agent, Step by Step
The FBI’s special agent posting names nine steps, in this order, and it is open from July 7, 2026 to July 6, 2027.
- Application and screening
- Phase I test
- Information session
- Official Physical Fitness Test and the Phase II written exam
- Phase II interview
- Conditional appointment offer
- Background investigation, to which applicants consent along with urinalysis and a polygraph
- Fit-for-duty medical review
- Basic Field Training Course, followed by career placement
FBI Agent Requirements Under the Current Posting
| Requirement | What the posting says |
|---|---|
| Education | A bachelor’s degree or higher from a U.S. accredited college or university. |
| Experience at GL-09 | One year of full-time sworn law enforcement work experience (local, state, tribal or federal) and a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree. |
| Experience at GL-10 | Two years of full-time work experience and a bachelor’s degree, or one year of full-time work experience with an advanced degree (master’s or doctorate). |
| Age | At least 23 years old and not yet 37 on appointment; exceptions may apply. |
| Citizenship and screening | U.S. citizens who consent to a complete background investigation, urinalysis and polygraph. |
| Fitness | Pass the Physical Fitness Test physical requirements. |
| Driving | A valid driver’s license with at least six months of driving experience. |
| Clearance and location | Eligibility for a Top-Secret clearance, and availability for assignment to any of the FBI’s 56 field offices. |
How to Become an FBI Agent With a Criminal Justice Degree
You need a bachelor’s degree, and a criminal justice degree meets that requirement. The posting’s sentence is the whole of it:
Have a bachelor's degree or higher from a U.S. accredited college or university.
USAJOBS, FBI special agent posting
BLS describes the same requirement from the outside: federal agencies such as the FBI may require prospective detectives and investigators to have a bachelor’s degree. The posting adds experience requirements at GL-09 and GL-10, in the table above. If you’re choosing a major while working out how to become an FBI agent, the police officer guide shows the path that builds the sworn law enforcement experience the GL-09 route asks for.
FBI Agent Salary: What the Posting Pays
The posting’s salary is $93,749 to $133,200 per year at pay grades GL 9 to 10, with promotion potential to GL 13. In addition to base salary, agent trainees receive locality pay for the Washington, D.C. area plus availability pay, which is 25% of the base and locality pay. Those are the posting’s figures, and they’re the ones this guide uses for the FBI. The detective guide has BLS pay for the closest local job.
FBI Agent Training, Hours and Duties
The posting lists the duties: planning and conducting investigations of potential violations of federal laws, building liaison relationships with federal, state, local, tribal, territorial and international law enforcement agencies, coordinating or taking part in searches, seizures and arrests, carrying a firearm and being willing to use force, including deadly force, if necessary, and keeping up the physical fitness the work requires. BLS adds that FBI agents investigate and pursue criminal cases that violate federal law, including crimes against public agencies, such as Medicare fraud, and crimes that cross state lines.
Federal law enforcement agents undergo extensive training, usually at the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, or at a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. FBI special agents must work at least 50 hours a week and are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Federal agencies such as the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service require extensive travel, often on short notice, and agents may relocate a number of times over a career.
Other Federal Agent Jobs and What They Ask For
The FBI isn’t the only federal agency that hires agents and officers with a degree, and several of them name criminal justice outright. Each row below is the agency’s own wording of its education route.
| Agency | What it states |
|---|---|
| Drug Enforcement Administration, special agent | A bachelor’s degree with a GPA of 2.95 or higher, a master’s or a J.D., or a bachelor’s or higher with three or more years of substantive work experience and special skills, plus coursework related to the skill. Agents are 21 to 36 at appointment and attend the 14-week Basic Agent Training Program at the DEA Academy in Quantico, Virginia. |
| U.S. Marshals Service, deputy U.S. marshal | A four-year bachelor’s degree in any field for the entry grade; at the next grade, a bachelor’s with superior academic achievement and major study in a related field such as criminal justice or criminology, or a year of related graduate study. Applicants are typically 21 to 36, and basic training runs 18 to 19 weeks at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia. |
| Customs and Border Protection, CBP officer | A full four-year bachelor’s degree in any field for the entry grade, or a bachelor’s with superior academic achievement (a GPA of 3.0 or higher, class standing or honor society membership) for the next. The education must come from an institution accredited by the U.S. Department of Education. |
| Federal Bureau of Prisons, correctional officer | A bachelor’s degree in any field qualifies for GL-05, and 9 semester hours of graduate study in criminal justice, social science or a related field qualifies for GL-06. |
| U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, federal courts | At least an undergraduate college degree. |
The correctional officer guide and the probation officer guide cover the last two in detail.
Degree Routes Toward a Federal Career
Every federal route above starts with a bachelor’s degree, so the bachelor’s rankings come first. The master’s rankings matter because, at GL-10, an advanced degree shortens the work experience the posting asks for from two years to one.
- Campus and Online Best Colleges for Criminal Justice 745 ranked bachelor’s programs, campus and online, priced at the in-state rate. The FBI special agent posting requires a bachelor’s degree or higher.
- Online Bachelor’s Degrees Online Criminal Justice Degree 187 ranked online bachelor’s programs, priced for an online student from another state. The FBI special agent posting requires a bachelor’s degree or higher.
- Graduate Degrees Masters in Criminal Justice 231 ranked master’s programs, priced at the graduate rate a resident pays. The FBI special agent posting requires a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Questions About Becoming an FBI Agent
Does the FBI Require a Criminal Justice Degree?
How Much Does an FBI Agent Make?
How Old Can You Be to Become an FBI Agent?
What Are the Requirements to Become an FBI Agent?
How to Become an FBI Agent Without Law Enforcement Experience?
How Long Are the Hours for an FBI Agent?
Sources for the FBI Agent Guide
- Requirements, pay and the application steps: USAJOBS, FBI special agent announcement, control number 875582400.
- Duties, hours, travel and training: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Police and Detectives, last modified August 27, 2026.
- Other agencies: DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Customs and Border Protection, Federal Bureau of Prisons and U.S. Courts.
- Postings and pages read on October 7, 2026.