Career
Surveyors
Measure the land and mark its boundaries.
$75,440
Median pay
+5.8%
Job growth, 2025–35
3,100
Openings a year
Bachelor's degree
Typical education
4 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- 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.
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?
“Direct or conduct surveys to establish legal boundaries for properties, based on legal deeds and titles.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Writing, Critical Thinking.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
4 years of education after high school (bachelor's degree), for a median of $75,440 a year and 3,100 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Surveying EngineeringCIP 14.3801
- Surveying Technology/SurveyingCIP 15.1102
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Geodetic Surveyors
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians$54,240 · +5.8%
- Civil Engineers$100,840 · +6.4%
- Cartographers and Photogrammetrists$81,390 · +7.4%
- Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians$64,950 · +3.2%
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.