---
title: "Dispatcher"
description: "Schedule and dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles for conveyance of materials, freight, or passengers, or for normal…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/dispatcher"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Dispatcher

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-5032 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-5032.00

Schedule and dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles for conveyance of materials, freight, or passengers, or for normal installation, service, or emergency repairs rendered outside the place of business. Duties may include using radio, telephone, or computer to transmit assignments and compiling statistics and reports on work progress.

Also advertised as: Aircraft Dispatcher; Charter Coordinator; City Dispatcher; Dispatcher (Dispatch); Mine Dispatcher; Paratransit Dispatcher; School Bus Dispatcher; Taxi Dispatcher.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $50,340 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $24.20/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $36,030 to $78,140, with the middle half between $42,750 and $62,450
- **Total US employment:** 202,810
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -0.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 16,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 33/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 202,810 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $36,030 |
| 25th | $42,750 |
| 50th (median) | $50,340 |
| 75th | $62,450 |
| 90th | $78,140 |
| Mean (average) | $54,740 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $72,260 | $65,750 | 300 |
| WA | $59,330 | $55,442 | 4,920 |
| MN | $59,220 | $60,048 | 2,760 |
| ND | $57,580 | $64,726 | 600 |
| IL | $57,240 | $57,264 | Not published by BLS |
| DE | $57,170 | $57,280 | 670 |
| AK | $56,730 | $55,423 | 570 |
| VT | $56,360 | $57,535 | 260 |
| NY | $55,810 | $51,714 | 11,160 |
| MA | $55,690 | $52,658 | 3,510 |
| ME | $55,150 | $56,826 | 670 |
| OR | $54,980 | $53,192 | 3,290 |
| NJ | $54,590 | $50,172 | 6,420 |
| CO | $54,070 | $52,469 | 3,470 |
| NE | $53,880 | $59,798 | 1,500 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/dispatcher/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/dispatcher.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 203,500 in the 2025–2035 base year to 202,100 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 1,500 jobs, or -0.7%. Declining: -0.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 16,000 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 47.4% |
| Some College Courses | 25.6% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 7.9% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 7.1% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 7.0% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 5.0% |

## What the work involves

- Schedule or dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles to appropriate locations, according to customer requests, specifications, or needs, using radios or telephones.
- Advise personnel about traffic problems, such as construction areas, accidents, congestion, weather conditions, or other hazards.
- Record and maintain files or records of customer requests, work or services performed, charges, expenses, inventory, or other dispatch information.
- Prepare daily work and run schedules.
- Relay work orders, messages, or information to or from work crews, supervisors, or field inspectors, using telephones or two-way radios.
- Confer with customers or supervising personnel to address questions, problems, or requests for service or equipment.
- Monitor personnel or equipment locations and utilization to coordinate service and schedules.
- Determine types or amounts of equipment, vehicles, materials, or personnel required, according to work orders or specifications.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Coordination — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administrative — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Conventional (C), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.40 |
| R — Realistic | 5.27 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.92 |
| S — Social | 2.69 |
| I — Investigative | 1.42 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 86.0 |
| ESTJ | 85.1 |
| ISFJ | 83.2 |
| ESFJ | 74.0 |
| ESTP | 59.3 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ESTJ, ISFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [First-Line Supervisor of Passenger Attendants](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-passenger-attendants) — median $62,840
- [First-Line Supervisor of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-material-moving-machine-and-vehicle-operators) — median $62,840
- [Public Safety Telecommunicator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-safety-telecommunicator) — median $53,040
- [Railroad Conductor and Yardmaster](https://nuecareer.com/careers/railroad-conductor-and-yardmaster) — median $78,000
- [Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerk](https://nuecareer.com/careers/production-planning-and-expediting-clerk) — median $59,650
- [Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisor) — median $58,170
- [First-Line Supervisor of Helpers, Laborers, and Material Movers, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-helpers-laborers-and-material-movers-hand) — median $62,840
- [First-Line Supervisor of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-mechanics-installers-and-repairers) — median $79,860
- [Power Distributor and Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-distributor-and-dispatcher) — median $106,730
- [Switchboard Operator, Including Answering Service](https://nuecareer.com/careers/switchboard-operator) — median $38,630

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/dispatcher