---
title: "Public Safety Telecommunicator"
description: "Operate telephone, radio, or other communication systems to receive and communicate requests for emergency assistance at 9-1-1 public safety answering…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/public-safety-telecommunicator"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Public Safety Telecommunicator

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-5031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-5031.00

Operate telephone, radio, or other communication systems to receive and communicate requests for emergency assistance at 9-1-1 public safety answering points and emergency operations centers. Take information from the public and other sources regarding crimes, threats, disturbances, acts of terrorism, fires, medical emergencies, and other public safety matters. May coordinate and provide information to law enforcement and emergency response personnel. May access sensitive databases and other information sources as needed. May provide additional instructions to callers based on knowledge of and certification in law enforcement, fire, or emergency medical procedures.

Also advertised as: 911 Dispatcher; Communications Officer; Communications Operator; Communications Specialist; Emergency Communications Dispatcher; Emergency Communications Operator (ECO); Police Dispatcher; Public Safety Dispatcher.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $53,040 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $25.50/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $37,320 to $79,830, with the middle half between $45,210 and $64,260
- **Total US employment:** 102,500
- **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:** +3.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 9,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 32/100 — 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 102,500 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $37,320 |
| 25th | $45,210 |
| 50th (median) | $53,040 |
| 75th | $64,260 |
| 90th | $79,830 |
| Mean (average) | $56,740 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $80,120 | $72,363 | 8,520 |
| WA | $78,850 | $73,683 | 1,980 |
| OR | $71,980 | $69,639 | 1,110 |
| AK | $66,660 | $65,124 | 390 |
| MN | $66,550 | $67,481 | 1,460 |
| CO | $63,520 | $61,639 | 1,800 |
| CT | $62,410 | $60,235 | 1,820 |
| MA | $61,720 | $58,360 | 2,790 |
| NY | $61,450 | $56,940 | 5,470 |
| IL | $61,260 | $61,286 | 4,350 |
| NV | $60,040 | $60,053 | 1,010 |
| WI | $60,000 | $63,765 | 1,820 |
| ND | $59,940 | $67,379 | 270 |
| VT | $59,470 | $60,710 | 280 |
| NJ | $59,240 | $54,446 | 4,010 |

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

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 105,600 in the 2025–2035 base year to 109,500 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 3,900 jobs, or +3.7%. About as fast as average: 3.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 9,000 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) | 63.4% |
| Some College Courses | 11.0% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 10.6% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 10.3% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 4.7% |

## What the work involves

- Question callers to determine their locations and the nature of their problems to determine type of response needed.
- Answer routine inquiries, and refer calls not requiring dispatches to appropriate departments and agencies.
- Learn material and pass required tests for certification.
- Determine response requirements and relative priorities of situations, and dispatch units in accordance with established procedures.
- Read and effectively interpret small-scale maps and information from a computer screen to determine locations and provide directions.
- Receive incoming telephone or alarm system calls regarding emergency and non-emergency police and fire service, emergency ambulance service, information, and after-hours calls for departments within a city.
- Record details of calls, dispatches, and messages.
- Relay information and messages to and from emergency sites, to law enforcement agencies, and to all other individuals or groups requiring notification.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — 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.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Telecommunications — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Geography — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Selective Attention — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — 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 Conventional (C), Realistic (R), Social (S).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.52 |
| R — Realistic | 4.33 |
| S — Social | 3.65 |
| I — Investigative | 2.91 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.89 |
| 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ISFJ | 86.0 |
| ISTJ | 85.4 |
| ESTJ | 82.9 |
| ESFJ | 74.4 |
| ISTP | 56.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISFJ, ISTJ, ESTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dispatcher) — median $50,340
- [Emergency Medical Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/emergency-medical-technician) — median $44,470
- [Switchboard Operator, Including Answering Service](https://nuecareer.com/careers/switchboard-operator) — median $38,630
- [Paramedic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/paramedic) — median $60,600
- [First-Line Supervisor of Security Workers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/first-line-supervisor-of-security-workers) — median $55,940
- [Police Officer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/police-officer) — median $76,210
- [Transit and Railroad Police](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transit-and-railroad-police) — median $90,230
- [Ambulance Driver and Attendant, Except Emergency Medical Technicians](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ambulance-driver-and-attendant) — median $35,450
- [Airfield Operations Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/airfield-operations-specialist) — median $56,850
- [Telephone Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/telephone-operator) — median $41,740

## 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/public-safety-telecommunicator