Surveyors
Architecture and ConstructionO*NET 17-1022.00United States
Make exact measurements and determine property boundaries. Provide data relevant to the shape, contour, gravitation, location, elevation, or dimension of land or land features on or near the earth's surface for engineering, mapmaking, mining, land evaluation, construction, and other purposes.
- Median annual earnings
- $75,591
- Projected change
- +8.5%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 52.51K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
47.4% of the workforce
Growing to 56.97K by 2035
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ASU learning related to this career
These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What surveyors do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- 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.
- Record the results of surveys, including the shape, contour, location, elevation, and dimensions of land or land features.
- Search legal records, survey records, and land titles to obtain information about property boundaries in areas to be surveyed.
- Prepare, or supervise preparation of, all data, charts, plots, maps, records, and documents related to surveys.
- Calculate heights, depths, relative positions, property lines, and other characteristics of terrain.
- Compute geodetic measurements and interpret survey data to determine positions, shapes, and elevations of geomorphic and topographic features.
- 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).
- Train assistants and helpers, and direct their work in such activities as performing surveys or drafting maps.
- Coordinate findings with the work of engineering and architectural personnel, clients, and others concerned with projects.
- Analyze survey objectives and specifications to prepare survey proposals or to direct others in survey proposal preparation.
- Testify as an expert witness in court cases on land survey issues, such as property boundaries.
- Adjust surveying instruments to maintain their accuracy.
- Develop criteria for survey methods and procedures.
- Survey bodies of water to determine navigable channels and to secure data for construction of breakwaters, piers, and other marine structures.
- Direct aerial surveys of specified geographical areas.
- Conduct research in surveying and mapping methods, using knowledge of photogrammetric map compilation and electronic data processing.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $46,209
- 25th percentile
- $57,747
- 50th percentile
- $75,591
- 75th percentile
- $99,063
- 90th percentile
- $131,624
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $75,591 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+8.5%faster than average
202552,506 jobs
2035 projected56,972 jobs
4,466 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 47.4%
- Some college
- 21%
- High school diploma or less
- 15.8%
- Associate degree
- 10.5%
- Certificate
- 5.3%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Field Surveyors2,614 postings
- 02Surveyors1,863 postings
- 03Survey Crew Chiefs1,296 postings
- 04Survey Party Chiefs1,192 postings
- 05Registered Professional Land Surveyors1,176 postings
- 06Insurance Loss Control Surveyors1,065 postings
- 07Land Surveyors845 postings
- 08Project Surveyors560 postings
- 09Survey Managers378 postings
- 10Field Inspectors299 postings
- 11Directors of Surveying266 postings
- 12Site Surveyors226 postings
- 13Construction Surveyors224 postings
- 14Land Survey Crew Chiefs202 postings
- 15Project Managers/Contractors177 postings
- 16Licensed Surveyors168 postings
- 17Rent Surveyors168 postings
- 18Crew Chiefs157 postings
- 19Nurse Surveyors157 postings
- 20Health Facilities Surveyors153 postings
Top employers
- 01Rdsolutions Systems1,220 postings
- 02RetailData1,075 postings
- 03GPAC900 postings
- 04Davies Risk Services619 postings
- 05Davies International Ltd.430 postings
- 06Actalent413 postings
- 07SitusAMC360 postings
- 08Colliers Engineering & Design299 postings
- 09Seek Now287 postings
- 10SAM212 postings
- 11Bowman & Company Llp196 postings
- 12Kiewit Corporation168 postings
- 13Field Asset Reporting146 postings
- 142M Quality115 postings
- 15Surveying And Mapping111 postings
- 16Prime HealthCare Staffing109 postings
- 17ESP Associates103 postings
- 18State of California101 postings
- 19Lvi Associates94 postings
- 20Langan Engineering & Environmental Services93 postings
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