2015

Senior Executive Service Report

OPM.GOV MAY 2016

United States Office of Personnel Management
Senior Executive Service

Fiscal Year 2015 

This document provides a brief summary of federal employees in Senior Executive Service.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Planning and Policy Analysis

Data Analysis Group
2 

Table of Contents

Purpose ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Data............................................................................................................................................................... 3

Table 1. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointments......................................................................... 3

Table 2. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends.............................................................. 3

Figure 1. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends............................................................. 4

Table 3. Senior Executive Service Agency ............................................................................................. 4

Table 4. Senior Executive Service Agency Trends................................................................................. 5

Table 5. Senior Executive Service Age Trends....................................................................................... 5

Figure 2. Senior Executive Service (SES) Age Trends ............................................................................ 6

Table 6. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender.................................................................................... 6

Table 7. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends........................................................................ 6

Figure 3. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends....................................................................... 7

Table 8. Senior Executive Service Ethnicity and Race........................................................................... 7

Table 9. Senior Executive Service (SES) Ethnicity and Race Trends...................................................... 8

Table 10. Senior Executive Service (SES) Education.............................................................................. 8

Table 11. Senior Executive Service (SES) Education Trends.................................................................. 9

Table 12. Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends............................................. 9

Figure 4. Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends ...........................................10

Table 13. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends...................................................................... 10

Figure 5. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends.......................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 14. Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends ..................................................................... 11

Figure 6. Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends...................................................................... 12

Additional Details........................................................................................................................................ 12
3 

Purpose

This document presents an overview of the characteristics of the Senior Executive Service (SES), 

providing the public and analysts access to commonly requested descriptive information. 

This document presents basic data, in the form of tables and charts, on the current and historical 

composition of the Senior Executive Service.

Data

Table 1, Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointments, provides counts and percentages of SES 

employees broken down by type of appointment for Fiscal Year 2014. Nearly 90% of SES employees are 

career1

. 

Table 1. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointments

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2015 (FY2015)

APPOINTMENT COUNT PERCENT

UNSPECIFIED 6 0.08

CAREER (SES PERMANENT) 6,985 89.65

NONCAREER (SES PERMANENT) 718 9.22

LIMITED TERM (SES NON-PERMANENT) 81 1.04

LIMITED EMERGENCY (SES NON-PERMANENT) 1 0.01

ALL 7,791 100.00

Table 2, Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends, provides counts of SES employees for the 

last five Fiscal Years broken down by type of appointment. 

Table 2. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

APPOINTMENT FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015

UNSPECIFIED 96 10 4 8 6 

CAREER (SES PERMANENT) 7,126 7,199 7,190 7,014 6,985 

NONCAREER (SES PERMANENT) 669 675 625 682 718 

LIMITED TERM (SES NON-PERMANENT) 126 117 93 96 81 

LIMITED EMERGENCY (SES NON-PERMANENT) 5 3 2 2 1 

ALL 8,022 8,004 7,914 7,802 7,791 

 

1 The SES data in this report includes some SES that are not covered by 5 U.S.C. 3133.
4 

Figure 1, Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends, is a graphical representation of the totals 

in Table 2. 

Figure 1. Senior Executive Service (SES) Appointment Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

Table 3, Senior Executive Service (SES) Agency, provides counts and percentages of SES employees by 

agency for all the Cabinet level agencies in Fiscal Year 2015. The table also has a category, “ALL OTHER 

AGENCIES” which contains all non-Cabinet level agencies. The Cabinet level agencies contain over three 

quarters of the SES employees.

Table 3. Senior Executive Service Agency

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2015 (FY2015)

AGENCY COUNT PERCENT

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 92 1.18

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 124 1.59

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE 179 2.30

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 182 2.34

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 235 3.02

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 253 3.25

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 271 3.48

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY 318 4.08

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 355 4.56

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 357 4.58

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 406 5.21

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 441 5.66

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 461 5.92

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 473 6.07

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 479 6.15

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 594 7.62

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 786 10.09

ALL OTHER AGENCIES 1,785 22.91

ALL 7,791 100.00

 4,000

 4,500

 5,000

 5,500

 6,000

 6,500

 7,000

 7,500

 8,000

 8,500

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

SES Count

Fiscal Year
5 

Table 4, Senior Executive Service (SES) Agency Trends, provides counts of SES employees broken down 

by agency for all the Cabinet level agencies for the last five fiscal years. The table also has a category, 

“ALL OTHER AGENCIES” which contains all non-Cabinet level agencies.

Table 4. Senior Executive Service Agency Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

AGENCY FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 88 78 80 85 92 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 105 104 104 110 124 

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE 190 181 176 158 179 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 166 177 169 173 182 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 213 231 221 227 235 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 274 270 256 242 253 

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 288 266 279 281 271 

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY 331 318 316 305 318 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 373 387 373 373 355 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 350 344 346 344 357 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 371 372 363 384 406 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 439 460 443 420 441 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 484 493 474 464 461 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 504 478 479 464 473 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 453 471 482 462 479 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY 579 614 604 598 594 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 762 749 768 767 786 

ALL OTHER AGENCIES 1,868 1,822 1,791 1,762 1,785 

ALL 8,022 8,004 7,914 7,802 7,791 

Table 5, Senior Executive Service (SES) Age Trends, lists the age distribution of SES employees for the 

last five fiscal years. In addition to the average, the quartiles are listed in order. For Fiscal Year 

2015(FY2015), at the 25th percentile, 25% of SES employees are younger than 49.4; 75% of SES 

employees are older than 49.4. The interpretation is the same for the median, which is simply the 50th

percentile; 50% of SES employees are younger than 54.5 while 50% of SES employees are older than 

54.5 for FY2015. For FY2015 the 75th percentile is 59.5; 75% of SES employees are younger than 59.5, 

while 25% of SES employees are older than 59. 

Table 5. Senior Executive Service Age Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

FISCAL YEAR AVERAGE AGE 25TH PERCENTILE MEDIAN 75TH PERCENTILE

2011 54.1 49.1 54.3 59.2

2012 54.2 49.3 54.3 59.3

2013 54.2 49.3 54.4 59.4

2014 54.3 49.4 54.5 59.4

2015 54.3 49.4 54.5 59.5
6 

Figure 2, Senior Executive Service (SES) Age Trends, is a graphical representation of Table 5. Figure 2 

shows that the age statistics have been slowly increasing over the last five fiscal years.

Figure 2. Senior Executive Service (SES) Age Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

Table 6, Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender, provides counts and percentages of SES employees 

broken down by gender for Fiscal Year 2015. Over 65% of SES employees are male.

Table 6. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2015 (FY2015)

GENDER COUNT PERCENT

FEMALE 2,680 34.40

MALE 5,111 65.60

ALL 7,791 100.00

Table 7, Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends, provides counts of SES employees for the last five 

fiscal years broken down by gender. 

Table 7. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

FISCAL YEAR FEMALE MALE ALL 

2011 2,593 5,429 8,022 

2012 2,678 5,326 8,004 

2013 2,666 5,248 7,914 

2014 2,649 5,153 7,802 

2015 2,680 5,111 7,791 

47.0

49.0

51.0

53.0

55.0

57.0

59.0

61.0

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

SES Age

Fiscal Year

AVERAGE AGE

25TH PERCENTILE

MEDIAN

75TH PERCENTILE
7 

Figure 3, Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends, is a graphical representation of Table 7.

Figure 3. Senior Executive Service (SES) Gender Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

Table 8, Senior Executive Service (SES) Ethnicity and Race, provides counts and percentages of SES 

employees broken down by ethnicity and race for Fiscal Year 2015. 

Table 8. Senior Executive Service Ethnicity and Race

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2015 (FY2015)

ETHNICITY AND RACE COUNT PERCENT

UNSPECIFIED 1 0.01

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE 97 1.25

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & ASIAN 253 3.25

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN 882 11.32

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 12 0.15

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & WHITE 6,144 78.86

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & OF MORE THAN ONE RACE 56 0.72

HISPANIC/LATINO 228 2.93

HISPANIC/LATINO & AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE 1 0.01

HISPANIC/LATINO & ASIAN 2 0.03

HISPANIC/LATINO & BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN 5 0.06

HISPANIC/LATINO & WHITE 98 1.26

HISPANIC/LATINO & OF MORE THAN ONE RACE 12 0.15

ALL 7,791 100.00

 -

 1,000

 2,000

 3,000

 4,000

 5,000

 6,000

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

SES Count

Fiscal Year

FEMALE

MALE
8 

Table 9, Senior Executive Service (SES) Ethnicity and Race Trends, provides counts of SES employees for 

the last five fiscal years broken down by ethnicity and race.

Table 9. Senior Executive Service (SES) Ethnicity and Race Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

ETHNICITY AND RACE FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 

UNSPECIFIED 5 3 3 1 1 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE 90 91 92 90 97 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & ASIAN 242 251 241 253 253 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN 794 829 849 859 882 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 10 12 10 12 12 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & WHITE 6,515 6,444 6,341 6,193 6,144 

NOT HISPANIC/LATINO & OF MORE THAN ONE RACE 39 46 55 50 56 

HISPANIC/LATINO 261 254 238 230 228 

HISPANIC/LATINO & AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE 1 1 1 2 1 

HISPANIC/LATINO & ASIAN 1 1 2 2 

HISPANIC/LATINO & BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN 4 3 4 6 5 

HISPANIC/LATINO & NATIVE HAWAIIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER 1 1 1 

HISPANIC/LATINO & WHITE 56 64 71 95 98 

HISPANIC/LATINO & OF MORE THAN ONE RACE 4 4 7 9 12 

ALL 8,022 8,004 7,914 7,802 7,791 

Table 10, Senior Executive Service (SES) Education, provides counts and percentages of SES employees 

broken down by education levels for Fiscal Year 2015. The education variable in the OPM databases has 

over twenty levels. Table 10 shows a common grouping of those levels. It is important to note that 

education is not an element regularly collected by agencies. Typically, it is recorded at the time of hire 

and updated only at the employees’ initiative thereafter. As a result, OPM education statistics should be 

treated as lower bounds on the true educational attainment of the Federal workforce. 

Table 10. Senior Executive Service (SES) Education

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Year 2015 (FY2015)

EDUCATION COUNT PERCENT

NO HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE 2 0.03

HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE 292 3.75

SOME COLLEGE 210 2.70

TECHNICAL TRAINING 8 0.10

ASSOCIATES DEGREE 32 0.41

COLLEGE DEGREE 1,814 23.28

ADVANCED DEGREE 5,432 69.72

UNKNOWN OR UNSPECIFIED 1 0.01

ALL 7,791 100.00
9 

Table 11, Senior Executive Service (SES) Education Trends, provides counts of SES employees for the last 

five fiscal years broken down by education level. Just as Table 10, the education variable in the OPM 

databases has over twenty levels. Table 11 shows a common grouping of those levels. It is important to 

note that education is not an element regularly collected by agencies. Typically, it is recorded at the 

time of initial hire into the federal Government and only at the employees’ initiative thereafter. As a 

result, OPM education statistics should be treated as lower bounds on the true educational attainment 

of the Federal workforce

Table 11. Senior Executive Service (SES) Education Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

EDUCATION FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015

NO HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE 5 6 4 4 2 

HIGH SCHOOL DEGREE 288 277 292 292 292 

SOME COLLEGE 236 224 220 209 210 

TECHNICAL TRAINING 5 2 4 7 8 

ASSOCIATES DEGREE 36 39 35 35 32 

COLLEGE DEGREE 1,885 1,895 1,828 1,805 1,814 

ADVANCED DEGREE 5,561 5,556 5,528 5,449 5,432 

UNKNOWN OR UNSPECIFIED 6 5 3 1 1 

ALL 8,022 8,004 7,914 7,802 7,791 

Table 12, Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends, lists the LOS distribution of SES 

employees for the last five fiscal years. An employee’s LOS is based on all prior federal service, not just 

their prior SES service. In addition to the average, the quartiles are listed in order. For Fiscal Year 2015

(FY2015), at the 25th percentile, 25% of SES employees have served less than 12.6 years ; 75% of SES 

employees have served more than 12.6 years. The interpretation is the same for the median, which is 

simply the 50th percentile; 50% of SES employees have served less than 23.9, while 50% of SES 

employees have served more than 23.9 years, for FY2015. For FY2015 the 75th percentile is 30.2; 75% 

of SES employees have served less than 30.2 years, while 25% of SES employees have served more than 

30.2 years.

Table 12. Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

FISCAL YEAR AVERAGE LOS 25TH PERCENTILE MEDIAN 75TH PERCENTILE

2011 22.0 13.0 23.8 30.9

2012 22.0 12.9 23.6 30.4

2013 22.0 13.2 23.8 30.2

2014 22.0 12.9 23.8 30.2

2015 21.8 12.6 23.9 30.2
10

Figure 4, Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends, is a graphical representation of 

Table 12. Figure 4 shows that the LOS statistics are relatively stable over the last five fiscal years with 

the exception of the 25th percentile which shows a decrease.

Figure 4. Senior Executive Service (SES) Length of Service (LOS) Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

Table 13. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends, lists the Salary distribution of SES employees for 

the last five fiscal years. In addition to the average, the quartiles are listed in order. For Fiscal Year 2015 

(FY2015), at the 25th percentile, 25% of SES employees earn less than $164,625 a year; 75% of SES 

employees earn more than $164,625 a year. The interpretation is the same for the median, which is 

simply the 50th percentile; 50% of SES employees earn less than $171,541 a year, while 50% of SES

employees earn more than $171,541 a year, for FY2015. For FY2015 the 75th percentile is $179,700; 

75% of SES employees earn less than $179,700 a year, while 25% of SES employees earn more than 

$179,700 a year.

Table 13. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

FISCAL YEAR AVERAGE SALARY 25TH PERCENTILE MEDIAN 75TH PERCENTILE

2011 $ 166,561 $ 160,920 $167,020 $ 176,179 

2012 $ 166,025 $ 160,000 $165,800 $ 175,013 

2013 $ 165,645 $ 159,609 $165,300 $ 174,730 

2014 $ 168,214 $ 162,237 $168,766 $ 177,023 

2015 $ 170,500 $ 164,625 $171,541 $ 179,700 

12.0

14.0

16.0

18.0

20.0

22.0

24.0

26.0

28.0

30.0

32.0

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

SES LOS

Fiscal Year

AVERAGE LOS

25TH PERCENTILE

MEDIAN

75TH PERCENTILE
11

Figure 5, Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends, is a graphical representation of Table 13.

Figure 5. Senior Executive Service (SES) Salary Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

Table 14, Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends, provides counts of SES employees broken down 

by separations, new hires, and conversions, for the last five fiscal years. Separations represent all 

employees who left the SES at any point in a particular Fiscal Year. New hires represent all employees 

who joined the SES in a particular Fiscal Year. Conversions represent all employees who were converted 

to the SES in a particular Fiscal Year.

Table 14. Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

ACTIONS DYNAMICS FY2011 FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015

SEPARATIONS

QUIT 211 223 256 241 223

DISCHARGE 4 5 7 2 9

REDUCTION IN FORCE (RIF) 0 0 0 0 0

MISCELLANEOUS TERMINATION 10 11 13 9 5

RETIREMENT 590 608 606 632 571

DEATH 7 12 12 6 8

OTHER SEPARATION 0 0 3 0 1

NEW HIRES 

NEW HIRE - COMP - TEMP/LIMITED APPT 0 0 1 0 0

NEW HIRE - SES APPT 388 277 300 358 385

NEW HIRE - EXCEPTED APPOINTMENT 0 0 0 1 0

COVERSIONS CONVERSION - EXCEPTED 1 1 0 0 0

CONVERSION - SES 800 791 756 687 887

 $150,000

 $155,000

 $160,000

 $165,000

 $170,000

 $175,000

 $180,000

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

SES Salary

Fiscal Year

AVERAGE SALARY

25TH PERCENTILE

MEDIAN

75TH PERCENTILE
12

Figure 6, Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends, is a graphical representation of Table 14.

Figure 6. Senior Executive Service (SES) Action Trends

Statistics restricted to pay plan ES from Fiscal Years 2011 to 2015 (FY2011-FY2015)

 -

 200

 400

 600

 800

 1,000

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

SES Count

Fiscal Year

SEPARATIONS

NEW HIRES

COVERSIONS

Additional Details

For any data requests, the OPM produces an online data tool, FedScope, which is updated quarterly:

http://www.fedscope.opm.gov/. All of the tables and figures above can be replicated in FedScope, with 

the option for much more detail. The tool is best operated in Internet Explorer. For all other inquiries, 

contact Data Analysis Group (DAG) through FedStats at FedStats@opm.gov. 
PPA-02528 - 05/2016

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Planning and Policy Analysis

1900 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20415

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