Coast Guard Ratings List 2026: ASVAB Score Chart for All 22 Ratings

Every Coast Guard enlisted rating needs an AFQT of 32 to qualify (50 with a GED), then a subtest-sum score that ranges from VE+AR 100 (ME) at the low end up to AR+MC+AS+EI 213 for Aviation Maintenance Technician. The chart below lists the required score for all 22 enlisted ratings, the smallest job list of any branch, sortable by score, community, or AFQT.

The Coast Guard is the most selective branch by enlistment volume: about 5,200 accessions a year across the entire service. It also scores differently than the Army or Marine Corps. There is no GT, no CL, no named composite. Instead, every rating lists a straight sum of specific subtest standard scores, and you either clear the number or you don't. This page turns that list into one scannable Coast Guard ASVAB score chart.

Coast Guard ASVAB Score Chart: All 22 Ratings and Required Scores

Every row comes from the same dataset the Coast Guard ASVAB calculator scores against. Sort by required score to find the lowest-barrier rating, or by community to compare jobs in the same career field. Two subtest sums joined by or (Machinery Technician, MK) mean you only need to clear one of the two paths, not both.

How Coast Guard ASVAB Scoring Works: Sums, Not Composites

Information Systems Technician needs a subtest sum of 171. There is no “IT score” formula printed anywhere, no named composite to look up. You add three subtest standard scores together and compare the total to 171.

This is the same system the Navy uses, and it is genuinely simpler than the Army or Marine Corps line scores: there is no VE, GT, or EL to translate first. You only need to know which of the 9 subtests feed a given rating, then add up your standard scores. The one exception is the officer-program GT score, which borrows the Army's exact formula.

VE (Verbal Expression) is a combined standard score from Word Knowledge + Paragraph Comprehension; it is not a separate subtest. AR (Arithmetic Reasoning) and VE appear in more rating formulas here than any other subtest, so they are the highest-leverage areas to study if you are targeting a specific Coast Guard rating.

Coast Guard Career Fields at a Glance

The 22 ratings split across roughly half a dozen career fields. Use the chart above for exact numbers; the notes below show where the score barriers cluster.

• Deck and operations. Boatswain's Mate (BM), Operations Specialist (OS), and Gunner's Mate (GM) run VE+AR 101-106, with GM higher at AR+MK+EI+GS 208 for its ordnance and weapons systems work.
• Engineering. Machinery Technician (MK, the OR-path rating), Electronics Technician (ET), Electrician's Mate (EM), and Information Systems Technician (IT) cluster around 150-171 on mechanical or electronics-heavy sums, most with an AR sub-floor of 52.
• Aviation. The highest barriers in the Corps: Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) at AR+MC+AS+EI 213, and Aviation Survival Technician (AST), the rescue swimmer rating, at VE+MC+AS 162 plus an AFQT of 65. Aviation Electrical Technician (AET) sits at 171; the older AVI rating was redesignated as AET.
• Maritime law enforcement. Maritime Enforcement Specialist (ME) and Port Security Specialist (PS) are the lowest-barrier ratings on the chart at VE+AR 100-101.
• Administrative and medical. Storekeeper (SK), Yeoman (YN), Culinary Specialist (CS), and Public Affairs Specialist (PA) score on VE+AR; Health Services Technician (HS), the CG's primary medical rating, uses VE+MK+GS 154.
• Intelligence and investigations. Intelligence Specialist (IS) lists VE+AR 100. Investigator (IV), a lateral-select role within the Coast Guard Investigative Service, has no published ASVAB minimum since it is filled from within the service, not directly at accession.

Frequently Asked Questions