---
title: "Railroad Conductor and Yardmaster"
description: "Coordinate activities of switch-engine crew within railroad yard, industrial plant, or similar location. Conductors coordinate activities of train crew…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/railroad-conductor-and-yardmaster"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Railroad Conductor and Yardmaster

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-4031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 53-4031.00

Coordinate activities of switch-engine crew within railroad yard, industrial plant, or similar location. Conductors coordinate activities of train crew on passenger or freight trains. Yardmasters review train schedules and switching orders and coordinate activities of workers engaged in railroad traffic operations, such as the makeup or breakup of trains and yard switching.

Also advertised as: Conductor; Freight Conductor; Freight Train Conductor; Local Freight Conductor; Railroad Conductor; Railway Yardmaster; Thru Freight Conductor; Train Master.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $78,000 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $37.50/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $58,740 to $109,770, with the middle half between $65,610 and $83,820
- **Total US employment:** 46,440
- **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:** +0.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 41/100 — 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 46,440 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $58,740 |
| 25th | $65,610 |
| 50th (median) | $78,000 |
| 75th | $83,820 |
| 90th | $109,770 |
| Mean (average) | $79,100 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| OK | $102,260 | $116,412 | 310 |
| PA | $83,610 | $85,691 | 2,750 |
| MD | $83,390 | $79,450 | 300 |
| IN | $81,260 | $87,068 | 1,720 |
| DE | $80,410 | $80,565 | Not published by BLS |
| NY | $80,000 | $74,128 | 6,980 |
| VA | $79,900 | $79,028 | 900 |
| IL | $79,820 | $79,854 | 2,790 |
| FL | $79,600 | $76,972 | 760 |
| WA | $79,040 | $73,860 | 810 |
| MI | $78,960 | $82,065 | 760 |
| MN | $78,930 | $80,034 | 830 |
| AZ | $78,080 | $77,555 | 460 |
| MS | $78,010 | $89,715 | 440 |
| NM | $77,890 | $84,468 | 400 |

18 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 33 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/railroad-conductor-and-yardmaster/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/railroad-conductor-and-yardmaster.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 38,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 39,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 300 jobs, or +0.9%. Slower than average: 0.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,000 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) | 85.6% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 8.4% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 6.0% |

## What the work involves

- Direct engineers to move cars to fit planned train configurations, combining or separating cars to make up or break up trains.
- Review schedules, switching orders, way bills, and shipping records to obtain cargo loading and unloading information and to plan work.
- Direct and instruct workers engaged in yard activities, such as switching tracks, coupling and uncoupling cars, and routing inbound and outbound traffic.
- Receive instructions from dispatchers regarding trains' routes, timetables, and cargoes.
- Signal engineers to begin train runs, stop trains, or change speed, using telecommunications equipment or hand signals.
- Arrange for the removal of defective cars from trains at stations or stops.
- Keep records of the contents and destination of each train car, and make sure that cars are added or removed at proper points on routes.
- Receive information regarding train or rail problems from dispatchers or from electronic monitoring devices.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 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 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — 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
- Operation and Control — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Far Vision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — 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 | 5.80 |
| C — Conventional | 4.87 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.77 |
| I — Investigative | 1.97 |
| S — Social | 1.85 |
| 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 | 88.5 |
| ESTJ | 86.2 |
| ISFJ | 74.3 |
| ESTP | 66.6 |
| ISTP | 66.2 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ESTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Locomotive Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/locomotive-engineer) — median $81,410
- [Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operator and Locomotive Firer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operator-and-locomotive-firer) — median $68,840
- [Rail Yard Engineer, Dinkey Operator, and Hostler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rail-yard-engineer-dinkey-operator-and-hostler) — median $60,600
- [Subway and Streetcar Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/subway-and-streetcar-operator) — median $86,380
- [Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dispatcher) — median $50,340
- [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
- [Air Traffic Controller](https://nuecareer.com/careers/air-traffic-controller) — median $148,080
- [Transportation Vehicle, Equipment and Systems Inspector, Except Aviation](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-vehicle-equipment-and-systems-inspector) — median $92,100
- [Aircraft Cargo Handling Supervisor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aircraft-cargo-handling-supervisor) — median $58,170
- [Airfield Operations Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/airfield-operations-specialist) — median $56,850

## 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/railroad-conductor-and-yardmaster