---
title: "Surveying and Mapping Technician"
description: "Perform surveying and mapping duties, usually under the direction of an engineer, surveyor, cartographer, or photogrammetrist, to obtain data used for…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/surveying-and-mapping-technician"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Surveying and Mapping Technician

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-3031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-3031.00

Perform surveying and mapping duties, usually under the direction of an engineer, surveyor, cartographer, or photogrammetrist, to obtain data used for construction, mapmaking, boundary location, mining, or other purposes. May calculate mapmaking information and create maps from source data, such as surveying notes, aerial photography, satellite data, or other maps to show topographical features, political boundaries, and other features. May verify accuracy and completeness of maps.

Also advertised as: Field Surveyor; Land Survey Technician (Land Survey Tech); Land Surveyor; Mapping Editor; Mapping Technician (Mapping Tech); Photogrammetric Technician (Photogrammetric Tech); Rodman; Stereoplotter Operator.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $54,240 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $26.08/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $37,520 to $81,630, with the middle half between $45,430 and $66,700
- **Total US employment:** 58,010
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 6,900 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 39/100 — 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 58,010 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $37,520 |
| 25th | $45,430 |
| 50th (median) | $54,240 |
| 75th | $66,700 |
| 90th | $81,630 |
| Mean (average) | $58,000 |

### 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 | $78,110 | $70,547 | 3,340 |
| AK | $76,970 | $75,196 | 300 |
| MN | $73,190 | $74,213 | 1,060 |
| WA | $62,720 | $58,610 | 1,030 |
| MD | $61,600 | $58,690 | 470 |
| ND | $60,870 | $68,425 | 160 |
| NJ | $60,720 | $55,806 | 750 |
| MT | $60,330 | $63,743 | 430 |
| OH | $60,330 | $65,029 | 1,350 |
| RI | $60,320 | $58,975 | 110 |
| UT | $59,600 | $60,285 | 360 |
| WI | $59,080 | $62,788 | 660 |
| IA | $58,950 | $67,170 | 390 |
| CT | $58,900 | $56,848 | 380 |
| NV | $58,790 | $58,802 | 680 |

36 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 51 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/surveying-and-mapping-technician/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/surveying-and-mapping-technician.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 58,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 62,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 3,400 jobs, or +5.8%. Faster than average: 5.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 6,900 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:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

## What the work involves

- Calculate latitudes, longitudes, angles, areas, or other information for mapmaking, using survey field notes or reference tables.
- Conduct surveys to ascertain the locations of natural features and man-made structures on the Earth's surface, underground, and underwater, using electronic distance-measuring equipment, such as GPS, and other surveying instruments.
- Collect information needed to carry out new surveys, using source maps, previous survey data, photographs, computer records, or other relevant information.
- Identify and compile database information to create requested maps.
- Monitor mapping work or the updating of maps to ensure accuracy, inclusion of new or changed information, or compliance with rules and regulations.
- Enter Global Positioning System (GPS) data, legal deeds, field notes, or land survey reports into geographic information system (GIS) workstations so that information can be transformed into graphic land descriptions, such as maps and drawings.
- Determine scales, line sizes, or colors to be used for hard copies of computerized maps, using plotters.
- Check all layers of maps to ensure accuracy, identifying and marking errors and making corrections.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.9 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.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Geography — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 3.5 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 | 5.94 |
| C — Conventional | 5.63 |
| I — Investigative | 4.03 |
| A — Artistic | 1.91 |
| S — Social | 1.00 |
| E — Enterprising | 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 | 93.4 |
| ISTP | 80.8 |
| INTJ | 76.8 |
| ISFJ | 74.1 |
| ESTJ | 69.8 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

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

- [Cartographer and Photogrammetrist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cartographer-and-photogrammetrist) — median $81,390
- [Geodetic Surveyor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geodetic-surveyor) — median $75,440
- [Geographic Information Systems Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geographic-information-systems-technologist-and-technician) — median $116,580
- [Surveyor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/surveyor) — median $75,440
- [Geological Technician, Except Hydrologic Technicians](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geological-technician) — median $53,350
- [Architectural and Civil Drafter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/architectural-and-civil-drafter) — median $66,150
- [Civil Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $64,950
- [Remote Sensing Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/remote-sensing-technician) — median $62,280
- [Remote Sensing Scientist and Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/remote-sensing-scientist-and-technologist) — median $122,570
- [Geographer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geographer) — median $102,040

## 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/surveying-and-mapping-technician