Surveyors
Also called: City Surveyor, Construction Surveyor, County Surveyor, Field Inspector, Field Surveyor, Geophysical Prospecting Surveyor, Health Facilities Surveyor, Home Surveyor
Make exact measurements and determine property boundaries.
What surveyors do
Typical tasks
- Direct or conduct surveys to establish legal boundaries for properties, based on legal deeds and titles.
- Prepare and maintain sketches, maps, reports, and legal descriptions of surveys to describe, certify, and assume liability for work performed.
- Write descriptions of property boundary surveys for use in deeds, leases, or other legal documents.
- Verify the accuracy of survey data, including measurements and calculations conducted at survey sites.
- Search legal records, survey records, and land titles to obtain information about property boundaries in areas to be surveyed.
- Record the results of surveys, including the shape, contour, location, elevation, and dimensions of land or land features.
- Prepare, or supervise preparation of, all data, charts, plots, maps, records, and documents related to surveys.
- Compute geodetic measurements and interpret survey data to determine positions, shapes, and elevations of geomorphic and topographic features.
- Calculate heights, depths, relative positions, property lines, and other characteristics of terrain.
- Plan and conduct ground surveys designed to establish baselines, elevations, and other geodetic measurements.
- Establish fixed points for use in making maps, using geodetic and engineering instruments.
- Determine longitudes and latitudes of important features and boundaries in survey areas, using theodolites, transits, levels, and satellite-based global positioning systems (GPS).
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Surveyors salary
The median annual wage for surveyors is $75,440 (BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, national). The lowest 10 percent earn less than $46,880 and the highest 10 percent earn more than $125,590. The mean annual wage is $80,570.
The mean hourly wage of $38.00 is 5.2× the federal minimum wage of $7.25. State minimums are higher in most large states. Minimum wage by state →
How does your pay compare with people your age?
Your numbers are not sent or stored. The comparison uses this occupation's BLS wage percentiles, adjusted for age with BLS median weekly earnings by age group (Q3 2026).
Pay by percentile
Annual wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Percentiles are a good proxy for pay by experience.
Projected pay for Surveyors (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
Today $75,440 → in 3 years $82,200 → in 5 years $87,100 → in 10 years $100,500 (10-year range $86,400–$116,700). The model assumes pay growth of +2.9% per year.
What drives the annual growth rate
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Surveyors
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Surveyors? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Surveyors
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
The same job in Japan
| Surveyors United States | 測量士 Japan | 土地家屋調査士 Japan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median / average pay | $75,440 | ¥5.43M ≈ $34,534 | ¥9.81M ≈ $62,392 |
| Pay in 10 years (est.) | $100,500 | ¥7.23M | ¥10.84M |
| Outlook score | 55 | 63 | 46 |
| AI replacement risk | 56% Moderate | 50% Moderate | 70% High |
| Workers | 51K | — | — |
Matched by occupation (SOC code). Yen converted at 157.25 JPY/USD for reference; Japanese figures are averages, U.S. figures are medians, and the surveys define occupations differently.
Skills, education and requirements for Surveyors
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Education of workers
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 4 — considerable preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★★★☆☆ Moderate (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become surveyors
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as surveyors
Career-path guidance is being prepared. Pay by percentile is shown in the Pay section.