The job outlook for land surveyors is steady growth on a replacement-heavy base.
BLS projects surveyor employment to grow 6% over 2025–35 — faster than the 3% projected for all occupations — from 52,000 to 55,000 jobs, with about 3,100 openings a year, many of them from replacing workers who retire or change occupations.
BLS's 2025 breakdown puts 71% of surveyor jobs in architectural, engineering and related services — the largest share of any sector.
What does BLS project for surveyors?
The headline numbers come from two BLS programs, so each figure below carries its label.
The Occupational Outlook Handbook counts about 52,000 surveyor jobs (SOC 17-1022) in the US in 2025, and that count includes the self-employed.
Growth is projected at 6% over 2025–35, which BLS calls faster than the average for all occupations; all occupations are projected at 3%.
That takes employment from 52,000 to 55,000 jobs, a gain of about 3,000 over the decade.
The same outlook sizes the churn: about 3,100 openings for surveyors each year, on average, over 2025–35.
Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
OEWS, the payroll survey behind BLS's wage data, counted 50,830 wage-and-salary surveyors in May 2025, and the Employment Projections count differs because it includes the self-employed.
O*NET adds its own signal: Surveyors (17-1022.00) carry a Bright Outlook flag in O*NET's 2026 update.
Read together, the sources describe an occupation growing faster than the economy-wide average, with a steady annual stream of openings to which replacement contributes many of the slots.
Is there a land surveyor shortage?
Our research found no federal statistic called a surveyor shortage, so the honest answer starts with what the data does show.
The projections point to faster-than-average growth and about 3,100 openings a year, many of them replacements for workers who retire or change occupations.
The structure of the profession matters for supply.
BLS notes that all 50 states and the District of Columbia require surveyors to be licensed before providing services to the public, including certifying legal documents that show property lines.
BLS also notes that entry-level surveyors often work under a licensed surveyor for several years before qualifying for a license, with requirements varying by state.
That gate shapes the supply side of the market: the licensed bench grows one qualifying surveyor at a time.
What our research did not find is a verified primary-source figure for the average age of licensed surveyors or for licensee-count trends, so this page leaves those numbers out rather than repeat them.
The employer's side of this question — which roles are hardest to fill and what firms are doing about it — is its own topic: our surveyor shortage for employers guide covers the hiring view.
Licensure rules are state rules
How old is the average licensed surveyor?
Our research found no primary source that publishes an average or median age for licensed surveyors.
Our research looked for one from the bodies that track the profession and could not confirm it, so this page gives no age figure.
Any precise "the average surveyor is N years old" claim you see is worth treating as unverified unless its source names the dataset.
What the federal data does support on the retirement question is indirect but citable.
BLS projects about 3,100 openings a year and expects many to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
That replacement pattern is why the aging-workforce story matters even without an age statistic.
Retirements and career changes create openings regardless of what the true average age turns out to be, so a job seeker's practical read of the market does not depend on settling the number.
Which sectors drive demand?
BLS breaks the 2025 job count down by industry, and one sector dominates: 71% of surveyor jobs were in architectural, engineering and related services.
Construction accounted for 10% and government for 9%; BLS also lists self-employed workers (2%) and mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (1%).
What those shares mean in practice:
- Architectural, engineering and related services (71%). Boundary, land-title, topographic and development surveying — the private-project work that engineering and surveying firms deliver.
- Construction (10%). The layout and staking work that keeps active builds on the plans' lines and grades.
- Government (9%). Public-agency survey work — BLS's category excludes state and local education and hospitals.
- Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (1%). Resource-extraction surveying — the smallest share in the BLS table our data records.
The concentration is the demand story: in 2025, 71% of surveyor jobs sat in architectural, engineering and related services — by far the largest share in BLS's breakdown.
Will technology shrink surveying jobs?
BLS answers this directly in the outlook: although drones and other advancements make some aspects of survey work more efficient, surveyors will continue to be needed to review and interpret the output of these technologies to ensure accuracy and completeness.
The 2025–35 projection is issued for a decade in which those tools are already in use — and it is still growth, at 6%.
In BLS's framing, the gains go to efficiency rather than to eliminating the need for surveyors to review and interpret technology output.
For the deeper career question — which tasks are hard to automate, and why licensure and liability anchor the job — our AI and surveying jobs guide takes it apart.
What the shortage means for job seekers
For a job seeker, the pieces add up to this: faster-than-average projected growth, about 3,100 openings a year with many of them replacement, and licensure gating surveyors' service to the public in all 50 states and DC.
Because entry-level surveyors often spend several years working under a licensed surveyor before qualifying, the people licensed to serve the public are a subset of the people doing survey work.
Building your way toward the licensed side of that line is the career-side reading of this data — not a promise about any individual application.
- Read your state's route early. Requirements differ from state to state — BLS notes that specific requirements vary by state — so start from your state board's current rules.
- Treat crew years as the qualifying asset they are. BLS describes some surveyors beginning as technicians and qualifying for licensure after many years of experience under a licensed surveyor's direction.
- Watch the sectors. In 2025, 71% of surveyor jobs were in architectural, engineering and related services — the largest share in BLS's breakdown — so that is the sector to watch for openings.
If you are weighing the career itself rather than the market, our is surveying a good career guide weighs the pros and cons.
The how to become a land surveyor guide lays out the licensure route in order, and the land surveyor career guide holds the full role picture.
Current land surveyor jobs show what employers ask for in your market.
Career information, not legal, tax or licensing advice — requirements vary by state, so confirm the current rules with your state's licensing board before you plan around them.