Land Surveyor
Land Surveyor scores 35/100 on this site's structural exposure measure — a task-content score dragged down by how much of the job's data processing (calculating coordinates, drafting plats, verifying measurements) overlaps with what AI-assisted survey software already automates well.
We have not ingested real-world usage data for this occupation yet. We show a band only where genuine data exists, rather than estimate one.
What a land surveyor actually does
Land surveyors measure and map the earth's surface to establish the legal boundaries of a parcel of property — the line a fence, a foundation, or a property-line dispute ultimately gets settled against. A boundary survey starts with archival research: pulling deeds, prior survey plats, and public land records to reconstruct where past surveyors set monuments and how the property has been described over decades or centuries of ownership changes.
In the field, surveyors locate those monuments (iron pins, concrete markers, even old fence lines and tree blazes used as historical evidence), then take precise measurements using GPS/GNSS receivers, robotic total stations, and increasingly drone-mounted LiDAR to tie everything into a coordinate system.
Back in the office, they reconcile the field data against the historical record, resolve discrepancies — deeds that don't quite match what's physically on the ground are common — and produce a signed, sealed plat that becomes the legal record of where the boundary actually sits. Surveyors also work ahead of construction projects, establishing site grades and reference points that engineers and contractors build from, and in property disputes their signed survey can end up as evidence in a courtroom.
The job mixes fieldwork across all types of terrain and weather with the legal-research and cartographic precision of preparing a document that carries the surveyor's own, individually licensed liability.
Why it reads this way
Land Surveyor scores 35/100 on this site's structural exposure measure — a task-content score dragged down by how much of the job's data processing (calculating coordinates, drafting plats, verifying measurements) overlaps with what AI-assisted survey software already automates well. What the numeric score misses is the legal wall around the final signature: every U. S.
state requires a licensed Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) to personally sign and seal any boundary survey or plat before it has legal force, and that signature carries direct, individual professional liability — a licensing board can suspend the specific person's license, not a company's.
Drone- and LiDAR-based data collection is real and growing (industry reporting describes field crews shrinking from 3-5 people to 1-2 on many projects as automated data capture speeds up the fieldwork phase), and BLS's own occupational outlook explicitly notes this technology 'may limit growth somewhat by increasing worker productivity' — a genuine, disclosed efficiency pressure, not a hidden one.
But that technology automates data collection and processing, not the judgment call of reconciling a modern GPS reading against a century-old deed description and legally certifying where a boundary sits — the licensed, liability-bearing task itself stays with a human.
A severe, well-documented generational shortage in the profession (the average licensed surveyor is about 58 years old, and only 14% are under 34) works in the opposite direction from any automation-driven headcount pressure, keeping demand for licensed surveyors high even as junior field-crew hours shrink.
Skills this role draws on
We don't yet have task-by-task time-share data for this occupation, so we can't show which specific tasks carry the exposure score above. This is the real skill set instead.
Typical salary range (USD)
$46,880–$125,590
Average: $75,440/yr
Range source: BLS OEWS wage data via O*NET OnLine (2025 release), SOC 17-1022.00 'Surveyors'
Average source: BLS OEWS wage data for Surveyors (17-1022.00) via O*NET OnLine, 2025 wage data (Annual Median Wage)
Related careers
Head-to-head comparisons
Land Surveyor scores 35/100 — a task-content score dragged down by how much of the coordinate-calculation and plat-drafting work overlaps with AI-assisted survey software. What the numeric score misses: every U.S. state requires a licensed Professional Land Surveyor to personally sign and seal any boundary survey before it has legal force, with direct individual professional liability. Drone/LiDAR data collection is real and growing — field crews are shrinking from 3-5 people to 1-2 on many projects, and BLS's own outlook notes this 'may limit growth somewhat by increasing worker productivity' — but that automates data collection, not the licensed judgment call of certifying a boundary against historical deed evidence. A severe generational shortage (average licensed surveyor age ~58, only 14% under 34) is a strong demand-side counter-force independent of automation, as of 2026-08-12.
This is a researched judgment (checklist v1.2), not a statistical measurement — it sits alongside, not instead of, the structural exposure signal above. Next scheduled review: 2027-02-12.
Sources (7)
- https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-1022.00
- https://www.onetonline.org/link/localwages/17-1022.00
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/surveyors.htm
- https://www.bpelsg.ca.gov/laws/pls_act.pdf
- https://www.op.nysed.gov/professions/land-surveying/license-requirements
- https://www.mckissock.com/blog/land-surveyor/how-to-stay-competitive-in-the-age-of-land-survey-automation/
- https://landsurveyorsunited.com/articles/vanishing-lines-confronting-the-surveying-workforce-shortage
Data sources & methodology
Salary data: BLS OEWS wage data via O*NET OnLine (2025 release), SOC 17-1022.00 'Surveyors'. Min/max figures represent the 10th–90th percentile annual wage range across the United States. Average figure sourced separately: BLS OEWS wage data for Surveyors (17-1022.00) via O*NET OnLine, 2025 wage data (Annual Median Wage).
Automation Risk Score: Based on O*NET occupational analysis (17-1022.00) evaluating task complexity, physical requirements, social intelligence, and environmental variability. Methodology based on research from Frey & Osborne (Oxford, 2017).
Growth projections: 3-4% (2024-2034), about as fast as the all-occupation average — BLS's own outlook notes that drone and other technology adoption 'may limit growth somewhat by increasing worker productivity,' disclosed here rather than smoothed over, based on BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.