---
title: "Hydrographic Surveyor"
description: "Measures and maps the depth and shape of the seafloor, rivers and harbors using sonar and GPS, producing data for nautical charts, dredging and marine…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydrographic-surveyor"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Hydrographic Surveyor

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-1022 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-1022.00

Measures and maps the depth and shape of the seafloor, rivers and harbors using sonar and GPS, producing data for nautical charts, dredging and marine construction.

Also advertised as: Hydrographer; Certified Hydrographer; Marine Surveyor (Hydrographic); Bathymetric Surveyor; Survey Party Chief (Hydrographic).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $75,440 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $36.27/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $46,880 to $125,590, with the middle half between $58,170 and $98,130
- **Total US employment:** 50,830
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,100 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 44/100 — 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 50,830 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $46,880 |
| 25th | $58,170 |
| 50th (median) | $75,440 |
| 75th | $98,130 |
| 90th | $125,590 |
| Mean (average) | $80,570 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $105,330 | $95,132 | 4,520 |
| AK | $99,550 | $97,256 | 250 |
| OR | $97,070 | $93,914 | 530 |
| MA | $94,590 | $89,441 | 1,290 |
| WA | $85,610 | $80,000 | 780 |
| MT | $84,610 | $89,397 | 350 |
| MN | $83,620 | $84,789 | 980 |
| ME | $83,200 | $85,729 | 270 |
| DE | $82,890 | $83,049 | 120 |
| NV | $82,460 | $82,477 | 490 |
| HI | $82,200 | $74,761 | 140 |
| WY | $81,250 | $87,657 | 240 |
| IN | $80,510 | $86,265 | 870 |
| WI | $79,650 | $84,648 | 610 |
| ND | $79,360 | $89,210 | 250 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydrographic-surveyor/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/hydrographic-surveyor.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 52,000 in the 2025–2035 base year to 55,000 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 3,000 jobs, or +5.8%. Faster than average: 5.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,100 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:** Bachelor'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:** Internship/residency.

### 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 | 47.4% |
| Some College Courses | 21.1% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 15.8% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 10.5% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 5.3% |

## What the work involves

- Operate multibeam and side-scan sonar systems
- Set up GPS positioning and motion sensors on survey vessels
- Plan survey lines and coverage
- Process depth data and apply tide and sound speed corrections
- Identify underwater hazards such as wrecks and obstructions
- Produce bathymetric charts, models and reports
- Maintain and calibrate survey equipment

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Mathematics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — 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.

- Coordination — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- 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
- 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
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mathematics — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Geography — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 3.7 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
- Mathematical Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — 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), Conventional (C), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 5.48 |
| C — Conventional | 5.29 |
| I — Investigative | 4.93 |
| A — Artistic | 2.12 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.88 |
| S — Social | 1.63 |

### 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 | 94.1 |
| ISTP | 82.4 |
| INTJ | 80.7 |
| ISFJ | 71.4 |
| ESTJ | 69.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Surveyor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/surveyor) — median $75,440
- [Geodetic Surveyor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geodetic-surveyor) — median $75,440
- [Surveying and Mapping Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/surveying-and-mapping-technician) — median $54,240
- [Civil Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineer) — median $100,840
- [Cartographer and Photogrammetrist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cartographer-and-photogrammetrist) — median $81,390
- [Civil Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $64,950
- [Construction and Building Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-and-building-inspector) — median $74,690
- [Geological Technician, Except Hydrologic Technicians](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geological-technician) — median $53,350
- [Mining and Geological Engineer, Including Mining Safety Engineers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mining-and-geological-engineer) — median $106,220
- [Architectural and Civil Drafter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/architectural-and-civil-drafter) — median $66,150

## 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/hydrographic-surveyor