Already earned
A clearance costs an employer months and real money to obtain. Reinstating yours costs them almost nothing.
That gap is your leverage. Cleared technical work is a separate market with better pay.
How much better? The most recent industry survey puts cleared professionals at about $126,000 in total compensation. Add a polygraph and it runs near $150,000.
Your eligibility can usually be reinstated for a period after you separate. No full reinvestigation. Ask a recruiter how long your window runs. Ask before it closes.
Cleared work clusters around defence and intelligence employers and their contractors. Follow the contractors and you find the jobs.
As of 1 October 2019, 4,243,937 people held eligibility for classified access. 1,384,060 of them at Top Secret. That is ODNI's most recent public total and we date it because it is several years old. The compensation figures come from a recruiting-industry survey, not the government.
You did the work for this already. You hold it. The only question left is whether you claim it before it lapses.
Where veterans already stand
| Measure | Veterans | Non-veterans |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate, 2025 | 3.5% | 4.2% |
| Share of the civilian labour force, 2025 | 4.9% | — |
| Share of the civilian labour force, 2000 | 10.5% | — |
| Federal IT management workforce | 41% | 59% |
| Living in rural areas | 24.1% | 19.3% |
Unemployment and labour force: BLS Employment Situation of Veterans, 2025 annual averages — BLS notes the 2025 figures are 11-month averages excluding October and are not strictly comparable with other years. Federal IT: OPM FedScope, September 2024, via Pew Research Center. Rural: Census Bureau, Veterans in Rural America, 2011–2015 American Community Survey, against the 2010 Census rural share of the total population.
What you have already earned
- Post-9/11 GI Bill — 36 months, up to 48. Covers certification exams, apprenticeships and non-degree technical training, not only college. va.gov.
- VR&E, Chapter 31 — a 10% service-connected rating qualifies, and there is no time limit if you were discharged on or after 1 January 2013. va.gov.
- VET TEC 2.0 — technology training, 4,000 seats a year, no prior VA education benefit required. va.gov.
- SkillBridge — your last 180 days of service, with commander approval. skillbridge.osd.mil.
- WIOA priority of service — veterans and eligible spouses go first, by law, in every county. CareerOneStop.
- Veterans' preference and special appointing authorities in federal hiring. USAJOBS.
Rates, seat counts and eligibility rules change. These are the doors; verify current terms with VA or DoD before counting on a number.
Photographs on this campaign are licensed stock used as illustration — not portraits of the people inside the federal counts. Full credits: CREDITS.md.