---
title: "Environmental Engineering Technologist and Technician"
description: "Apply theory and principles of environmental engineering to modify, test, and operate equipment and devices used in the prevention, control, and…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineering-technologist-and-technician"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Environmental Engineering Technologist and Technician

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-3025 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-3025.00

Apply theory and principles of environmental engineering to modify, test, and operate equipment and devices used in the prevention, control, and remediation of environmental problems, including waste treatment and site remediation, under the direction of engineering staff or scientists. May assist in the development of environmental remediation devices.

Also advertised as: Air Quality Instrument Specialist; EHS Engineer (Environmental, Health and Safety Engineer); Engineer; Environmental Engineering Assistant; Environmental Engineering Technician (Environmental Engineering Tech); Environmental Field Technician (Environmental Field Tech); Environmental Technician (Environmental Tech); Haz Tech (Hazardous Technician).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $59,920 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $28.81/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $39,910 to $96,660, with the middle half between $48,200 and $75,960
- **Total US employment:** 12,190
- **Typical entry education:** Associate's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.1% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,100 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 38/100 — 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 12,190 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $39,910 |
| 25th | $48,200 |
| 50th (median) | $59,920 |
| 75th | $75,960 |
| 90th | $96,660 |
| Mean (average) | $64,870 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WA | $100,050 | $93,493 | 270 |
| OR | $80,770 | $78,144 | 140 |
| TN | $80,100 | $87,188 | 450 |
| AK | $77,860 | $76,066 | 40 |
| NV | $75,330 | $75,346 | 70 |
| MD | $67,510 | $64,320 | 250 |
| MA | $66,860 | $63,220 | 320 |
| AZ | $65,420 | $64,980 | 190 |
| ME | $64,660 | $66,625 | Not published by BLS |
| SC | $63,200 | $67,414 | 220 |
| NY | $62,540 | $57,950 | 470 |
| ID | $62,240 | $65,177 | 80 |
| OK | $61,900 | $70,467 | 370 |
| KY | $61,470 | $68,180 | 200 |
| NM | $61,170 | $66,336 | 130 |

30 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 45 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineering-technologist-and-technician/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/environmental-engineering-technologist-and-technician.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 12,500 in the 2025–2035 base year to 12,900 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 400 jobs, or +3.1%. About as fast as average: 3.1% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,100 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:** Associate's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### 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 |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 67.3% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 10.8% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 8.2% |
| Some College Courses | 6.6% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 4.7% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 1.5% |

## What the work involves

- Decontaminate or test field equipment used to clean or test pollutants from soil, air, or water.
- Perform environmental quality work in field or office settings.
- Collect and analyze pollution samples, such as air or ground water.
- Prepare and package environmental samples for shipping or testing.
- Assist in the cleanup of hazardous material spills.
- Inspect facilities to monitor compliance with regulations governing substances, such as asbestos, lead, or wastewater.
- Receive, set up, test, or decontaminate equipment.
- Record laboratory or field data, including numerical data, test results, photographs, or summaries of visual observations.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.1 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.

- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Engineering and Technology — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Chemistry — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 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 Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.28 |
| I — Investigative | 5.90 |
| C — Conventional | 4.80 |
| A — Artistic | 1.73 |
| S — Social | 1.46 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.32 |

### 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 | 91.1 |
| ISTP | 84.4 |
| INTJ | 82.0 |
| ISFJ | 67.4 |
| ESTJ | 65.0 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Environmental Science and Protection Technician, Including Health](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-science-and-protection-technician) — median $55,090
- [Environmental Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineer) — median $107,110
- [Environmental Scientist and Specialist, Including Health](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-scientist-and-specialist) — median $82,220
- [Environmental Compliance Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-compliance-inspector) — median $80,730
- [Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-and-wastewater-treatment-plant-and-system-operator) — median $60,020
- [Water/Wastewater Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-wastewater-engineer) — median $100,840
- [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440
- [Industrial Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $66,120
- [Geological Technician, Except Hydrologic Technicians](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geological-technician) — median $53,350
- [Chemical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-engineer) — median $125,040

## 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/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **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/environmental-engineering-technologist-and-technician