Air Traffic Controllers

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
5.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

25% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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Show 2 more strengths

Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 434 votes

43% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. However, employees may be able to find reassurance in the automated risk level we have generated, which shows 25% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Air Traffic Controllers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Air Traffic Controllers was $144,580 ($70 per hour).

The median annual wage for Air Traffic Controllers was 192.1% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Air Traffic Controllers' job openings is expected to rise 1.2% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 22,400 people employed as 'Air Traffic Controllers' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 6 thousand people are employed as 'Air Traffic Controllers'.

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What people are saying (16)

Leave a comment
Ryan (Low)
01 Jul 2024 19:08
the job requires humans to talk to pilots and ai could possibly not understand what the pilot is saying or that they may be unable to prevent an accident from happening
Philip (Low)
01 Sep 2023 02:59
its risky to have robots doing risky jobs for people when human lives are at stake
Bob (No chance)
04 Sep 2025 23:01
There could/would be to many accidents that could happen with ai
Dan Potts (No chance)
17 Jun 2025 13:49
Too many variables in the situations that air traffic controllers deal with to get this done in th next 20 years.
Atc (No chance)
24 Apr 2025 17:47
To manage incidents Safely avoid collisions and control pilots experience unusual situations
Gonzalo Sancho
24 Sep 2023 14:00
As an air traffic controller I truly think we will not be entirely replaced. It’s a job with a lot of responsibility and there will always need to be someone behind the machine making the last decision. And something no one has talked about is the weather conditions, if there is a storm everything gets really complicated and I find it really difficult for a computer to get and process all the information required. Without taking into account weather conditions I could see the job replaced.
Ted (Low)
22 May 2024 18:49
think about how many people go through Heathrow each day, that's a lot of trust in an robot/ai taking over
Mike
05 May 2023 16:18
I’ve got 18 years left until retirement. I’ve heard eventually we’re gonna just be ‘air traffic watchers’, there just in case things go wrong. We’re nowhere near that now, and the FAA usually lags behind on technology. But I wouldn’t mind the last few years in my career sitting back and watching a computer do it’s thing…
Joey Rood (Low)
21 Jul 2020 05:03
AI may get to a point where it will be indistinguishable from humans, especially in a standard exchange such as the kind air traffic communications have.
Gabriel Pinheiro
19 Dec 2020 17:15
We already got to that point. Check out the Turing test and how many AIs have already passed it.
Dan (Moderate)
16 May 2022 22:49
Due to the rapid development of incredibly intelligent technologies, with artificial intelligence becoming increasingly popular and lucrative in ever-expanding areas and fields for the betterment of human civilization, the air travel industry is no exception.

Most likely, air traffic control will be almost entirely automated, with human controllers making the ultimate decisions in extreme situations. Aircraft will be almost entirely integrated with artificial intelligence, making them even safer and more efficient than ever before.

It's only a matter of time rather than possibility.
Mike (Highly likely)
08 Mar 2021 14:05
Unmanned Traffic Management is being currently tested. If it succeeds, Air Traffic Controllers will decrease in numbers as UTM spreads as a result of the increase of unmanned aircraft traffic in the skies.
Chinmay Narendra (Highly likely)
24 Mar 2022 06:37
It is highly likely as robots can do this job because they have eyes and can learn about air traffic control.
Camilo (Uncertain)
15 Nov 2019 01:56
Planes are being driven by robots at this point, why wouldn't ATC be taken over by bots. Can a bot have a heart attack??
Bob
29 Nov 2020 16:19
Just about everything said in this is wrong. Planes still have 2 human pilots controlling the autopilot. Autopilot doesn’t fly the plane the pilots do. Autopilot is cruise control in the plane not a pilot. Also, correct computers can’t suffer from a Heart attack but computers can bug, crash, fail due to power issues etc. and can improvise and problem solve. If an Aircraft went NORDO would the automated ATC know to use light gun signals at that specific aircraft ?
Ted
22 May 2024 18:56
Autopilot is more or less inputting an altitude, or a climb/descent rate or speed into it, it then takes that and just figures it out, like if your going 250 knots and you input 200 knots into it, it would reduce the thrust, or if you set an increase in climb rate it would raise the nose. Its basically expecting those couple of inputs and knows how to correct them, it doesn't think on its own, it just does as its told, i don't think we're at all close to robots flying planes (famous last words 😅)
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Job description

Control air traffic on and within vicinity of airport, and movement of air traffic between altitude sectors and control centers, according to established procedures and policies. Authorize, regulate, and control commercial airline flights according to government or company regulations to expedite and ensure flight safety.

O*NET-SOC code: 53-2021.00