The chart below represents the current enlisted rank insignia of the United States Air Force.
| US DoD pay grade | Special | E-9 | E-8 | E-7 | E-6 | E-5 | E-4 | E-3 | E-2 | E-1 | ||||||
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| NATO code | OR-9 | OR-8 | OR-7 | OR-6 | OR-5 | OR-4 | OR-3 | OR-2 | OR-1 | |||||||
| Insignia | 
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No insignia |
| Title | Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman | Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force | Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau | Command chief master sergeant | Chief master sergeant[a] | Senior master sergeant[a] | Master sergeant[a] | Technical sergeant | Staff sergeant | Senior airman | Airman first class | Airman | Airman basic | |||
| Abbreviation | SEAC | CMSAF | SEANGB | CCC/CCM | CMSgt | SMSgt | MSgt | TSgt | SSgt | SrA | A1C | Amn | AB | |||
- ^ a b c Air Force first sergeants are considered temporary and lateral ranks and are senior to their non-diamond counterparts. First sergeants revert to their permanent rank within their paygrade upon leaving assignment.[1]
While all Air Force military personnel are referred to as airmen, it can specifically refer to the pay grades of E-1 through E-4, which are below the level of non-commissioned officers (NCOs).[2] Above the pay grade of E-4 (E-5 through E-9) all ranks fall into the category of NCO and are further subdivided into NCOs (E-5 and E-6) and senior NCOs (E-7 through E-9); the term junior NCO is sometimes used to refer to staff sergeants and technical sergeants (E-5 and E-6).[2]
The Air Force and Space Force are the only ones of the six branches of the United States military where NCO status is now only achieved at the grade of E-5. Formerly, the grade of sergeant was obtained after a time as a senior airman and successful completion of the Air Force NCO School. In all other branches, NCO status can be achieved at the grade of E-4 (a corporal in the Army and Marine Corps, petty officer third class in the Navy and Coast Guard). However, E-4s in the Army with the rank of specialist are not NCOs. The Air Force mirrored the Army from 1976 to 2 May 1991 with an E-4 being either a senior airman wearing three stripes without a star or a sergeant (informally referred to as a "buck sergeant") which was noted by the presence of the central star and considered an NCO.[3] Despite not being an NCO, a senior airman who has completed Airman Leadership School can be a supervisor.[2]
- ^ Barnett, Robert (12 December 2012). "Air Force first sergeants work to help Airmen". Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Public Affairs. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
- ^ a b c Air Force Instruction 36-2618, The Enlisted Force Structure (PDF). United States Air Force. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 January 2013.
- ^ Spink, Barry L. (19 February 1992). A Chronology of the Enlisted Rank Chevron of the United States Air Force (PDF). Air Force Historical Research Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2017.