Surveying and Mapping Technicians Career, Salary and Skills
Surveying and Mapping Technicians have a BLS-reported national median annual wage of $54,240 based on the 2025 OEWS dataset, with reported national employment of 58,010. Wage data is published for 273 locations.
Occupation description
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.
O*NET code
17-3031.00
Job zone
3
Typical education
Not recorded
Experience
Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years
National salary and employment
Median annual
$54,240
Hourly median
$26.08
Employment
58,010
Data year
2025
National salary distribution
Top skills
| Skill | Importance | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Reading Comprehension | 3.62 | 3.75 |
| Critical Thinking | 3.50 | 3.62 |
| Mathematics | 3.25 | 3.62 |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.25 | 3.12 |
| Active Listening | 3.12 | 3.00 |
| Time Management | 3.12 | 3.38 |
| Monitoring | 3.12 | 3.25 |
| Speaking | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Judgment and Decision Making | 3.00 | 3.00 |
| Writing | 2.88 | 2.88 |
Typical tasks
- Search for section corners, property irons, or survey points.
- Calculate latitudes, longitudes, angles, areas, or other information for mapmaking, using survey field notes or reference tables.
- 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.
- Adjust and operate surveying instruments such as prisms, theodolites, electronic distance measuring equipment, or electronic data collectors.
- Check all layers of maps to ensure accuracy, identifying and marking errors and making corrections.
- Collect information needed to carry out new surveys, using source maps, previous survey data, photographs, computer records, or other relevant information.
- Record survey measurements or descriptive data, using notes, drawings, sketches, or inked tracings.
- Set out and recover stakes, marks, or other monumentation.
Technology
- 3D Nature LLC Visual Nature Studio
- 3D Nature LLC World Construction Set
- Adobe Acrobat Writer
- Adobe FreeHand MX
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Autodesk 3d Studio Viz
- Autodesk AutoCAD
- Autodesk AutoCAD Blue Sky
- Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
- Autodesk AutoCAD Map 3D
- Autodesk CAiCE Visual Transportation
- Autodesk Land Desktop
- Bentley GeoPak Bridge
Surveying and Mapping Technicians salary by location
Areas with the highest reported employment for this occupation.
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in TXMedian $47,680 · Employment 8,720
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in FLMedian $48,040 · Employment 4,810
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in NCMedian $53,160 · Employment 4,100
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in CAMedian $78,110 · Employment 3,340
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in Houston, TXMedian $49,570 · Employment 2,650
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in NYMedian $57,360 · Employment 2,540
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in VAMedian $56,760 · Employment 2,440
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in COMedian $57,890 · Employment 2,340
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in Dallas, TXMedian $45,460 · Employment 2,010
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in New York, NYMedian $57,530 · Employment 1,930
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in GAMedian $48,810 · Employment 1,890
- Surveying and Mapping Technicians Salary in Denver, COMedian $57,890 · Employment 1,510
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Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0 (onetcenter.org). Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, 2025 (bls.gov/oes). Figures are published survey estimates, not real-time market data.