---
title: "Water Resource Specialist"
description: "Design or implement programs and strategies related to water resource issues such as supply, quality, and regulatory compliance issues."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-resource-specialist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Water Resource Specialist

**Category:** Management · **SOC code:** 11-9121 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 11-9121.02

Design or implement programs and strategies related to water resource issues such as supply, quality, and regulatory compliance issues.

Also advertised as: Water Resources Planner.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $167,220 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $80.39/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $79,710 to $316,850, with the middle half between $119,430 and $221,540
- **Total US employment:** 108,690
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +8.2% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 9,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 31/100 — 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 108,690 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $79,710 |
| 25th | $119,430 |
| 50th (median) | $167,220 |
| 75th | $221,540 |
| 90th | $316,850 |
| Mean (average) | $180,250 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MA | $267,290 | $252,740 | 10,590 |
| CT | $210,670 | $203,330 | 1,190 |
| CA | $210,230 | $189,875 | 14,950 |
| NJ | $207,030 | $190,276 | 10,040 |
| WA | $182,480 | $170,521 | 2,490 |
| NC | $173,870 | $184,329 | 6,010 |
| MD | $168,620 | $160,653 | 4,820 |
| IL | $159,670 | $159,737 | 2,810 |
| DC | $156,730 | $142,610 | 1,540 |
| KS | $153,820 | $170,782 | 240 |
| CO | $152,730 | $148,207 | 1,640 |
| VA | $150,570 | $148,926 | 1,470 |
| OR | $143,120 | $138,466 | 1,700 |
| ME | $141,360 | $145,657 | 430 |
| WV | $138,010 | $154,206 | 160 |

34 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 49 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-resource-specialist/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/water-resource-specialist.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 112,200 in the 2025–2035 base year to 121,500 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 9,200 jobs, or +8.2%. Much faster than average: 8.2% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 9,200 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:** Bachelor'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:** 5 years or more.
- **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 | 50.0% |
| Master's Degree | 50.0% |

## What the work involves

- Perform hydrologic, hydraulic, or water quality modeling.
- Analyze storm water systems to identify opportunities for water resource improvements.
- Conduct, or oversee the conduct of, investigations on matters such as water storage, wastewater discharge, pollutants, permits, or other compliance and regulatory issues.
- Develop strategies for watershed operations to meet water supply and conservation goals or to ensure regulatory compliance with clean water laws or regulations.
- Review or evaluate designs for water detention facilities, storm drains, flood control facilities, or other hydraulic structures.
- Present water resource proposals to government, public interest groups, or community groups.
- Write proposals, project reports, informational brochures, or other documents on wastewater purification, water supply and demand, or other water resource subjects.
- Conduct technical studies for water resources on topics such as pollutants and water treatment options.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.3 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 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Physics — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written 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
- Deductive Reasoning — 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 Investigative (I), Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 5.80 |
| R — Realistic | 4.45 |
| C — Conventional | 4.17 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.53 |
| S — Social | 2.58 |
| A — Artistic | 1.78 |

### 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 | 83.1 |
| ISTP | 79.7 |
| INTJ | 76.4 |
| ESTJ | 66.6 |
| INTP | 62.4 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISTP.

## Related occupations

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

- [Water/Wastewater Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-wastewater-engineer) — median $100,840
- [Industrial Ecologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-ecologist) — median $82,220
- [Conservation Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/conservation-scientist) — median $73,010
- [Environmental Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineer) — median $107,110
- [Hydrologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydrologist) — median $96,600
- [Environmental Restoration Planner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-restoration-planner) — median $82,220
- [Brownfield Redevelopment Specialist and Site Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/brownfield-redevelopment-specialist-and-site-manager) — median $141,900
- [Environmental Scientist and Specialist, Including Health](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-scientist-and-specialist) — median $82,220
- [Range Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/range-manager) — median $73,010
- [Natural Sciences Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/natural-sciences-manager) — median $167,220

## 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/water-resource-specialist