Members of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps are assigned various ranks, the titles and insignia of which are based on those used by the United States Armed Forces (and its various ROTCs), specifically the United States Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S Space Force, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Rank requirements vary with schools. Some specialties require cadets to pass promotion tests while others only require recommendations by superiors and the needs of the unit.
| Pay grade*** | C/O-6 | C/O-5 | C/O-4 | C/O-3 | C/O-2 | C/O-1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army JROTC &<br />MCJROTC | |||||||
| Cadet Colonel (C/COL) | Cadet Lieutenant Colonel (C/LTC) | Cadet Major (C/MAJ) | Cadet Captain (C/CPT) | Cadet First Lieutenant (C/1LT) | Cadet Second Lieutenant (C/2LT) | ||
| NJROTC &<br />CGJROTC* | |||||||
| Cadet Captain** (C/CAPT) | Cadet Commander (C/CDR) | Cadet Lieutenant Commander (C/LCDR) | Cadet Lieutenant (C/LT) | Cadet Lieutenant Junior Grade (C/LTJG) | Cadet Ensign (C/ENS) | ||
| AFJROTC & SFJROTC | |||||||
| Cadet Colonel (C/Col) | Cadet Lieutenant Colonel (C/LtCol) | Cadet Major (C/Maj) | Cadet Captain (C/Cpt) | Cadet First Lieutenant (C/1stLt) | Cadet Second Lieutenant (C/2ndLt) | ||
| Pay grade*** | C/O-6 | C/O-5 | C/O-4 | C/O-3 | C/O-2 | C/O-1 | |
| * CGJROTC rank insignia for officers is the same as the NJROTC's, except a Coast Guard shield is placed above the horizontally-displayed rank insignia and a "JROTC" bar below it.|-| colspan=7|** Cadet captain is the rank that the leader of a NJROTC unit holds if the unit has reached the cadet enrollment requirements to be rated as a regiment. It is a relatively rare rank, as of June 2013, there are only 5 regimental-sized units out of the 584 NJROTC units worldwide.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] |-| colspan=7|*** Although the positions and titles of rank match those of the Armed Forces' pay grades, JROTC cadets are not serving members of the military, and receive no pay, and only receive benefits or privileges based upon the situation of the time (receiving salutes, giving orders, messing/bunking in Officers' Country and using base exchanges or commissaries while on training trips, etc.) This is in direct contrast to Cadets/Midshipmen of the Senior (University Level) ROTC programs, in which those students do receive pay/stipends, benefits, and privileges, depending upon their scholarship or enlistment status. | |||||||