Vocational Index

Career

Parking enforcement workers

Enforce parking rules and keep streets moving.

$46,730
Median pay
-1.1%
Job growth, 2025–35
800
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
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

  • Enter and retrieve information pertaining to vehicle registration, identification, and status, using hand-held computers.
  • Maintain close communications with dispatching personnel, using two-way radios or cell phones.
  • Patrol an assigned area by vehicle or on foot to ensure public compliance with existing parking ordinance.
  • Identify vehicles in violation of parking codes, checking with dispatchers when necessary to confirm identities or to determine whether vehicles need to be booted or towed.
  • Write warnings and citations for illegally parked vehicles.

The outlook

How the forecast changed this year

2024–34 edition-1.5%2025–35 edition-1.1%
Projected 10-year growth in last year's and this year's BLS projections. 700 → 800 openings a year.

The deeper question

What kind of person does this path ask you to become?

What this work centers on

Objects & tools
6.4
Information & systems
5.1
Persuasion & leadership
3.2
People & care
2.6
Ideas & analysis
1.4
Creation & expression
1.0

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?

“Enter and retrieve information pertaining to vehicle registration, identification, and status, using hand-held computers.”

Development

What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?

Speaking, Monitoring, Active Listening, Time Management.

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 $46,730 a year and 800 openings nationally each year.

Paths in

Degrees that lead here

  • NO MATCHCIP 99.9999

Paths across

Careers that use similar skills

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

  1. BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  2. BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  3. O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  4. CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.