---
title: "Motorboat Operator"
description: "Operate small motor-driven boats. May assist in navigational activities."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/motorboat-operator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Motorboat Operator

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-5022 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 53-5022.00

Operate small motor-driven boats. May assist in navigational activities.

Also advertised as: Boat Operator; Crew Boat Operator; Harbor Pilot; Launch Operator; Launchman; Motorboat Operator; River Pilot; Shoreboat Driver.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $47,520 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $22.85/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $34,510 to $84,530, with the middle half between $42,760 and $69,010
- **Total US employment:** 2,480
- **Typical entry education:** Certificate
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +4.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 62/100 — 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 2,480 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $34,510 |
| 25th | $42,760 |
| 50th (median) | $47,520 |
| 75th | $69,010 |
| 90th | $84,530 |
| Mean (average) | $56,270 |

### Pay by state

The 14 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HI | $76,250 | $69,349 | 330 |
| IL | $68,380 | $68,409 | 40 |
| WA | $63,650 | $59,479 | 80 |
| NY | $62,000 | $57,449 | Not published by BLS |
| TX | $50,270 | $51,794 | 270 |
| MI | $46,760 | $48,598 | Not published by BLS |
| FL | $46,620 | $45,081 | 170 |
| CT | $45,970 | $44,368 | Not published by BLS |
| LA | $45,800 | $51,923 | 160 |
| MA | $45,160 | $42,702 | Not published by BLS |
| NJ | $44,150 | $40,577 | 40 |
| TN | $42,360 | $46,109 | 60 |
| CA | $34,570 | $31,223 | 190 |
| PR | $26,630 | No BEA price parity | 150 |

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 2,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 2,900 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 100 jobs, or +4.9%. Faster than average: 4.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 300 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:** Postsecondary nondegree award (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:** Less than 5 years.
- **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 |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 39.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 34.6% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 14.0% |
| Some College Courses | 8.6% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 2.2% |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 0.9% |

## What the work involves

- Follow safety procedures to ensure the protection of passengers, cargo, and vessels.
- Operate engine throttles and steering mechanisms to guide boats on desired courses.
- Report any observed navigational hazards to authorities.
- Secure boats to docks with mooring lines, and cast off lines to enable departure.
- Organize and direct the activities of crew members.
- Oversee operation of vessels used for carrying passengers, motor vehicles, or goods across rivers, harbors, lakes, and coastal waters.
- Maintain desired courses, using compasses or electronic navigational aids.
- Arrange repairs, fuel, and supplies for vessels.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.4 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.

- Operation and Control — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 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
- Service Orientation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Control Precision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Spatial Orientation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Far Vision — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Perceptual Speed — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.6 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), Enterprising (E).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.54 |
| C — Conventional | 3.66 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.19 |
| I — Investigative | 2.22 |
| S — Social | 1.99 |
| A — Artistic | 1.12 |

### 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 | 85.5 |
| ESTJ | 78.9 |
| ISFJ | 71.2 |
| ISTP | 70.5 |
| ESTP | 65.7 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Captain, Mate, and Pilot of Water Vessels](https://nuecareer.com/careers/captain-mate-and-pilot-of-water-vessels) — median $92,460
- [Sailor and Marine Oiler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sailor-and-marine-oiler) — median $51,520
- [Ship Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ship-engineer) — median $109,530
- [Motorboat Mechanic and Service Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/motorboat-mechanic-and-service-technician) — median $57,550
- [Rigger](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rigger) — median $62,640
- [Dredge Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dredge-operator) — median $49,640
- [Locomotive Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/locomotive-engineer) — median $81,410
- [Hoist and Winch Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hoist-and-winch-operator) — median $56,450
- [Truck Driver](https://nuecareer.com/careers/truck-driver) — median $58,640
- [Commercial Pilot](https://nuecareer.com/careers/commercial-pilot) — median $123,220

## 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

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