Career
Crossing guards and flaggers
Keep people safe at crossings and work zones.
$38,100
Median pay
+3.5%
Job growth, 2025–35
17,300
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Direct or escort pedestrians across streets, stopping traffic, as necessary.
- Guide or control vehicular or pedestrian traffic at such places as street and railroad crossings and construction sites.
- Monitor traffic flow to locate safe gaps through which pedestrians can cross streets.
- Communicate traffic and crossing rules and other information to students and adults.
- Direct traffic movement or warn of hazards, using signs, flags, lanterns, and hand signals.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Direct or escort pedestrians across streets, stopping traffic, as necessary.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, Monitoring.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though short-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $38,100 a year and 17,300 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Transit and Railroad Police$90,230 · +3.2%
- Subway and Streetcar Operators$86,380 · +3.7%
- Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters$78,000 · +0.9%
- Security Guards$38,020 · +0.9%
- Parking Enforcement Workers$46,730 · -1.1%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.