SSC CGL 2026: Eligibility, Age Limit, Vacancy & Selection Process
SSC CGL is not one job. It is a single exam that recruits to posts ranging from Tax Assistant at Pay Level 4 to Assistant Audit Officer at Level 8 — and the gap between the best and worst CGL post is wider than the gap between CGL and a bank PO job. Your rank inside CGL matters more than most candidates realise.
SSC CGL 2026 at a glance
| Conducting body | Staff Selection Commission |
|---|---|
| Examination | Combined Graduate Level Examination |
| Total vacancies | 12,256 |
| Qualification | Bachelor's degree in any discipline |
| Age limit | 18–30 years as on 01 Aug 2026 (relaxation below) |
| Application dates | 21 May 2026 – 25 Jun 2026 |
| Application fee | ₹100 (nil for women, SC, ST, PwD and ex-servicemen) |
| Exam date | Aug–Sep 2026 (Tier-I) |
| Salary | ₹25,500 – ₹1,42,400 per month (Level 4 to Level 8) |
| Apply online | SSC application portal ↗ (applications have closed) |
| Official website | ssc.gov.in ↗ |
Are you eligible for SSC CGL 2026?
Born on or after 02 Aug 1995 for General — earlier with a category relaxation. Enter your date of birth for a yes or no on SSC CGL.
SSC CGL age limit and relaxation 2026
The age limit for SSC CGL 2026 is 18 to 30 years as on 01 Aug 2026. The date is the rule, not the exam day. Someone born 01 Aug 1995 is already 31 on that date and is out; born a day later they are 30, and they can apply.
| Category | Relaxation | Effective maximum age |
|---|---|---|
| General / EWS | No relaxation | 30 years |
| OBC-NCL | +3 years | 33 years |
| SC / ST | +5 years | 35 years |
| PwD (General) | +10 years | 40 years |
| PwD (OBC-NCL) | +10 +3 years | 43 years |
| PwD (SC / ST) | +10 +5 years | 45 years |
SSC CGL posts and salary
| Post | Department | Pay level | Monthly pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant Audit Officer | CAG | Level-8 | ₹47,600–1,51,100 |
| Assistant Section Officer | Central Secretariat / MEA | Level-7 | ₹44,900–1,42,400 |
| Inspector of Income Tax | CBDT | Level-7 | ₹44,900–1,42,400 |
| Inspector (Central Excise / GST) | CBIC | Level-7 | ₹44,900–1,42,400 |
| Sub-Inspector | CBI / NIA | Level-7 | ₹44,900–1,42,400 |
| Junior Statistical Officer | MoSPI | Level-6 | ₹35,400–1,12,400 |
| Auditor | CGDA / CGA | Level-5 | ₹29,200–92,300 |
| Tax Assistant | CBDT / CBIC | Level-4 | ₹25,500–81,100 |
SSC CGL selection process
| Stage | Details |
|---|---|
| Tier-I | Computer based, 100 questions, 200 marks, 60 minutes. Qualifying only. |
| Tier-II | Three papers. Paper-I for all, Paper-II for JSO, Paper-III for AAO. Merit deciding. |
| Skill test | Data Entry Speed Test or typing test for specific posts. |
| Document verification | Originals checked; category certificate must be valid as on the cutoff date. |
Who should apply for SSC CGL
Best suited to candidates with genuinely strong quantitative ability who want a city-anchored posting and a high ceiling. If you are aiming specifically at Assistant Audit Officer, Income Tax Inspector or CBI Sub-Inspector, this is the only route to them.
- Junior Statistical Officer additionally needs 60% in Mathematics in Class 12, or Statistics as a degree subject.
- Final year students cannot apply — the degree must be complete by the cutoff date.
- A 2026 corrigendum raised the upper age limit for certain CBIC Inspector posts from 30 to 32.
SSC CGL 2026 — आयु सीमा और योग्यता
संयुक्त स्नातक स्तरीय परीक्षा (SSC CGL) 2026 के लिए आयु सीमा 01 Aug 2026 को 18 से 30 वर्ष है। OBC-NCL उम्मीदवारों को 3 वर्ष, SC/ST को 5 वर्ष और दिव्यांग (PwD) उम्मीदवारों को अपनी श्रेणी की छूट के अतिरिक्त 10 वर्ष की छूट मिलती है।
शैक्षणिक योग्यता: किसी भी विषय में स्नातक। कुल 12,256 पद · वेतन ₹25,500 से ₹1,42,400 प्रति माह · आवेदन की अंतिम तिथि 25 Jun 2026।
अपनी योग्यता मुफ़्त जाँचें →SSC CGL 2026 — frequently asked questions
What is the age limit for SSC CGL 2026?
Can final year students apply for SSC CGL?
Which SSC CGL post has the highest salary?
How many vacancies are there in SSC CGL 2026?
What SSC CGL is actually like
SSC CGL is not one job and treating it as one is the most common planning error. The same rank list feeds an Assistant Audit Officer at Level 8 and a Tax Assistant at Level 4, and the gap between those two lives — pay, transfer liability, promotion ceiling — is wider than the gap between CGL and a bank PO job. Your preference order in the application matters as much as your score.
The work in most CGL posts is desk-based file and case processing in a government office, with fixed hours and genuine job security. Income Tax and CBIC Inspector posts carry field work and are the ones candidates chase; Assistant Section Officer in a ministry is city-anchored and quieter. Competition is severe in absolute terms — lakhs apply — but the pool thins sharply after Tier-II, where the mathematics paper separates candidates who practised from candidates who read.
SSC CGL physical standards and physical test
Only for Inspector (Central Excise / Examiner / Preventive Officer) and Sub-Inspector (CBN). The other CGL posts have no physical standard.
| Male candidates | |
| Height | 157.5 cm (≈ 5 ft 2 in) |
| Chest | 81 cm, expanding at least 5 cm |
| Walking | 1600 m in 15 minutes |
| Cycling | 8 km in 30 minutes |
| Female candidates | |
| Height | 152 cm (≈ 5 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 48 kg |
| Walking | 1 km in 20 minutes |
| Cycling | 3 km in 25 minutes |
Relaxations. Height relaxable by 5 cm for men and 2.5 cm for women who are Garhwali, Assamese, Gorkha or members of Scheduled Tribes; weight relaxable by 2 kg for women in those groups.
Measure yourself against these before committing a year of preparation. Height and chest are pass-or-fail — no amount of training compensates for falling short, and candidates discover it at the measurement stage after clearing every written paper. Confirm the current standard in the notification on ssc.gov.in.
Verified 2026-09-06 7 of 7 critical fields checked against the official notification. View the notification ↗
SSC CGL — official documents
Published by Staff Selection Commission on ssc.gov.in. Every link below goes to the commission's own file, not to a copy. Dates are the ones the commission declared on each document.
| Notification | SSC CGL — Combined Graduate Level Examination, 2025 ↗ | 2026-08-15 |
| Notification | SSC CGL — Combined Graduate Level Examination, 2026 ↗ | 2026-08-15 |
| Notification | SSC CGL — Combined Graduate Level Examination, 2024 ↗ | 2026-08-15 |
SSC CGL 2026 — important links
| Apply online | SSC application portal ↗ |
| Check your eligibility | Am I eligible for SSC CGL? — free |
| Admit card, result, answer key | Admit cards · Results · Answer keys |
| Syllabus and exam pattern | Selection process for SSC CGL |
| Where SSC publishes them | Admit cards, results and syllabus appear on the official site linked above. |
| How we track this exam | |
| New SSC notices on ssc.gov.in are picked up every 2 hours; dates read from them are marked until someone confirms them. | |
Questions about SSC CGL
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Vacancy figures, dates and salaries are compiled from official notifications and change between cycles. Age limits vary between posts within the same exam. Always confirm against the official notification on ssc.gov.in before applying.