---
title: "Stormwater Specialist"
description: "Manages programs that keep polluted runoff out of rivers and lakes, inspecting construction sites, outfalls and green infrastructure."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/stormwater-specialist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Stormwater Specialist

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

Manages programs that keep polluted runoff out of rivers and lakes, inspecting construction sites, outfalls and green infrastructure.

Also advertised as: Stormwater Program Coordinator; Stormwater Inspector; MS4 Coordinator; Stormwater Compliance Specialist; Erosion and Sediment Control Specialist.

## 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/stormwater-specialist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/stormwater-specialist.

## 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

- Inspect construction sites for erosion and sediment controls
- Map storm sewer outfalls and drainage systems
- Investigate illicit discharges into storm drains
- Write and update stormwater pollution prevention plans
- Collect and analyze stormwater runoff samples
- Inspect and maintain green infrastructure practices
- Prepare annual compliance reports for permits

## 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 | 5.06 |
| 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 | 91.7 |
| ISTP | 84.0 |
| INTJ | 81.8 |
| ISFJ | 68.4 |
| ESTJ | 65.8 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Environmental Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $59,920
- [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

## 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/stormwater-specialist