---
title: "Utility Meter Reader"
description: "Read meter and record consumption of electricity, gas, water, or steam."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/utility-meter-reader"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Utility Meter Reader

**Category:** Office and Administrative Support · **SOC code:** 43-5041 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 43-5041.00

Read meter and record consumption of electricity, gas, water, or steam.

Also advertised as: Field Technician (Field Tech); Meter Reader; Meter Reading Clerk; Meter Service Technician (Meter Service Tech); Meter Service Worker; Meter Technician (Meter Tech); Utility Service Worker; Water Inspector.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $48,150 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.15/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $34,720 to $85,930, with the middle half between $39,410 and $65,750
- **Total US employment:** 19,430
- **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:** -10.5% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,400 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 49/100 — 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 19,430 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $34,720 |
| 25th | $39,410 |
| 50th (median) | $48,150 |
| 75th | $65,750 |
| 90th | $85,930 |
| Mean (average) | $55,380 |

### 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 | $79,040 | $71,387 | 810 |
| PA | $78,450 | $80,402 | 860 |
| NV | $76,120 | $76,136 | 160 |
| MN | $73,930 | $74,964 | 120 |
| CO | $66,550 | $64,579 | 150 |
| WA | $65,900 | $61,581 | 390 |
| CT | $64,180 | $61,944 | 140 |
| OR | $63,660 | $61,590 | 120 |
| NJ | $63,030 | $57,929 | 870 |
| AK | $62,690 | $61,245 | 40 |
| WY | $61,470 | $66,317 | 50 |
| IA | $60,940 | $69,438 | 120 |
| MI | $60,870 | $63,263 | 270 |
| IL | $60,690 | $60,716 | 570 |
| WV | $59,430 | $66,404 | 280 |

25 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 40 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/utility-meter-reader/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/utility-meter-reader.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 19,700 in the 2025–2035 base year to 17,600 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 2,100 jobs, or -10.5%. Declining: -10.5% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,400 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:** Short-term on-the-job training.

## What the work involves

- Verify readings in cases where consumption appears to be abnormal, and record possible reasons for fluctuations.
- Report to service departments any problems, such as meter irregularities, damaged equipment, or impediments to meter access, including dogs.
- Walk or drive vehicles along established routes to take readings of meter dials.
- Read electric, gas, water, or steam consumption meters and enter data in route books or hand-held computers.
- Inspect meters for unauthorized connections, defects, and damage, such as broken seals.
- Answer customers' questions about services and charges, or direct them to customer service centers.
- Dig dirt away from meters to take readings.
- Perform preventative maintenance or minor repairs on meters.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.0 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.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Far Vision — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.0 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).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 6.58 |
| R — Realistic | 4.91 |
| I — Investigative | 2.53 |
| S — Social | 2.15 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.28 |
| 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 | 91.3 |
| ISFJ | 84.7 |
| ESTJ | 78.7 |
| ISTP | 66.0 |
| ESFJ | 63.6 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Control and Valve Installer and Repairer, Except Mechanical Door](https://nuecareer.com/careers/control-and-valve-installer-and-repairer) — median $74,340
- [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-powerhouse-substation-and-relay) — median $103,020
- [Power Distributor and Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-distributor-and-dispatcher) — median $106,730
- [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Commercial and Industrial Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-commercial-and-industrial-equipment) — median $74,090
- [Electrical and Electronics Installer and Repairer, Transportation Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-installer-and-repairer-transportation-equipment) — median $84,890
- [Inspector, Tester, Sorter, Sampler, and Weigher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/inspector-tester-sorter-sampler-and-weigher) — median $48,570
- [Stationary Engineer and Boiler Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stationary-engineer-and-boiler-operator) — median $78,620
- [Septic Tank Servicer and Sewer Pipe Cleaner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/septic-tank-servicer-and-sewer-pipe-cleaner) — median $49,880
- [Power Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-plant-operator) — median $102,040
- [Calibration Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/calibration-technologist-and-technician) — median $67,820

## 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/utility-meter-reader