Career
Public safety telecommunicators
Answer 911 calls and send help.
$53,040
Median pay
+3.7%
Job growth, 2025–35
9,000
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
- Provide emergency medical instructions to callers.
- Question callers to determine their locations and the nature of their problems to determine type of response needed.
- Determine response requirements and relative priorities of situations, and dispatch units in accordance with established procedures.
- Receive incoming telephone or alarm system calls regarding emergency and non-emergency police and fire service, emergency ambulance service, information, and after-hours calls for departments within a city.
- Relay information and messages to and from emergency sites, to law enforcement agencies, and to all other individuals or groups requiring notification.
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 information & systems, then objects & tools?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Provide emergency medical instructions to callers.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $53,040 a year and 9,000 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance$50,340 · -0.7%
- Emergency Medical Technicians$44,470 · +5.8%
- Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service$38,630 · -26.0%
- Paramedics$60,600 · +5.7%
- First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers$55,940 · +3.7%
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.
Not sure this fits who you are? Start with Vocational Finder →
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.