Architectural and Civil Drafters

Low Risk
Low High

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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
5.3/10
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

36% (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.

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

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite 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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Instructing

Quite important
Why this matters
Teaching or coaching others—explaining steps, giving feedback, and adapting to different learners so they can do the work safely and correctly.
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Communicating with people outside the organization

Quite important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Consulting and advising others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide guidance and expert advice to managers or teams on technical, system, or process decisions—explaining options, tradeoffs, and recommended actions.
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Show 1 more strength

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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What users think

Based on 273 votes

53% 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 36% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Architectural and Civil Drafters 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

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Architectural and Civil Drafters was $64,280 ($31 per hour).

The median annual wage for Architectural and Civil Drafters was 29.9% 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

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Architectural and Civil Drafters' job openings is expected to rise 4.1% 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

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 109,550 people employed as 'Architectural and Civil Drafters' within the United States.

This represents around 0.07% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Architectural and Civil Drafters'.

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What people are saying (6)

Leave a comment
Patrick (Low)
05 Aug 2025 04:37
Too much of drafting, at least in the civil/land development space, is heavily jurisdiction-dependent and up to the whims of the engineer of record and municipal reviewers, that I don't see AI/robots being able to dominate it anytime soon.
alec (Moderate)
01 Jan 2025 02:29
I think that there is pretty high likelihood that this job will be automated. The only thing that holds me back is the human error and creativity that makes building unique and special.
David (Low)
14 Nov 2020 20:06
Architecture is a career based largely on design and expression, generating environments that try to convey sensations to the people who inhabit those places, robots would not have real feelings to be able to understand and generate that.
Yannick Castella (Low)
10 Feb 2020 16:18
To make a good Civil Draftsman you need a certain ingenuity and imagination to get new and optimised solutions. Therefore a Robot would need a human-like mind to do this job which is why I think it is very unlikely that a robot will take my job.
a (Highly likely)
11 Sep 2019 09:16
Automation of drafting is higly likely. Can be made today. People controling the final building model and drawings will still be needed though.
Nima Fatemi (Highly likely)
29 May 2019 09:35
As a researcher in the mentioned area, I strongly believe architectural drafting will be a distant memory as machines are much better than us in correcting and devising plans.
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Job description

Prepare detailed drawings of architectural and structural features of buildings or drawings and topographical relief maps used in civil engineering projects, such as highways, bridges, and public works. Use knowledge of building materials, engineering practices, and mathematics to complete drawings.

O*NET-SOC code: 17-3011.00