Air Force Staff Sergeant Promotions Up in 2024 (2024)

Promotions to staff sergeant rocketed up 42 percent versus a year ago, with 12,827 Senior Airmen selected for promotion to E-5 in the 2024 cycle, the Air Force Personnel Center announced Aug. 5.

Nearly 23 percent of eligible Senior Airmen earned a promotion, up 5.45 percentage points from a year ago, when the selection rate plunged to just 17.4 percent—the lowest mark since 1997.

The surge does not return promotions to historic highs from 2000-2002 and 2016-2018, when promotions regularly exceeded 15,000 and the selection rate stayed above 40 percent. But it does snap a five-year run of declining selection rates.

Senior raters gained access to the promotion list Aug. 6 so they can notify Airmen, and the full list will be shared on the Air Force Personnel Center website Aug. 8.

Promotion volumes and promotion rates for noncommissioned officers are rising generally, indicative of a slow recovery in the wake of changes announced in 2022. Officials were concerned then that Airmen lacking necessary experience were being promoted, leaving a gap in leadership among senior NCOs.

“The majority of the experience decline was attributable to the Air Force trying to achieve an enlisted force structure with too many higher grades,” Col. James Barger, Air Force Manpower Analysis Agency commander, said in a statement. “We also found that experience levels would continue to decline unless the Air Force lays in more junior Airmen allocations and fewer E-5 to E-7 allocations.”

Manpower planners then set out to reach a healthier grade distribution by 2025.Now, as the Air Force adjusts, it is tweaking reenlistment incentives to enlarge retention bonuses and expand eligibility.

The Air Force has now announced promotion statistics for 2024 for most enlisted ranks, including tech sergeant, master sergeant, and senior master sergeant. Results for chief master sergeant have not been released yet.

Staff Sergeant Promotions