Chemical Technicians

Moderate Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

Chemists
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Why it fits

Analytical methods, lab instruments, chemical properties, and research support are strong foundations.

Materials Scientists
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Why it fits

Materials testing, chemical properties, instruments, and product development support transfer with education.

Chemical Engineers
19% automation risk | Minimal Risk
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Why it fits

Process data, lab results, scale-up support, and chemical systems knowledge transfer with engineering credentials.

Occupational Health and Safety Technicians
21% automation risk | Low Risk
Higher growth
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Why it fits

Chemical hazards, lab safety, sampling, exposure records, and procedures overlap with safety work.

Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health
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Why it fits

Sampling, chemical testing, environmental standards, and field documentation overlap strongly.

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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
4.2/10
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

44% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

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.
Jobs that also use this strength

Originality

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with novel ideas and creative solutions when there isn’t an obvious playbook to follow.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
Jobs that also use this strength

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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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.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 79 votes

51% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 44% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Chemical Technicians 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 Chemical Technicians was $57,790 ($28 per hour).

The median annual wage for Chemical Technicians was 16.7% 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 'Chemical Technicians' job openings is expected to rise 3.7% 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

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 55,640 people employed as 'Chemical Technicians' within the United States.

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

Put another way, around 1 in 2 thousand people are employed as 'Chemical Technicians'.

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What people are saying (3)

Nick (No chance)
08 Nov 2025 08:16
I have been an analytical chemist for a decade. Half the job is hands on (Routine testing, Analytical request investigatios, method development, method validation, equipment calibration), half of it is back end work (investigating out of specification results, creating safety procedures, reporting results).

We have Automated equipment (dissolution systems, UPLCs, Autotitrators) but you still need analysts to calibrate them, prepare standards, solutions, run the equipment, trouble shoot, repair, interpret data.

Also a lot of organic chemistry analysis is old-school, fumehood chemistry that can't feasibly be automated.
JB (Low)
13 Mar 2021 17:11
Data must be properly interpreted. Instruments monitored for proper operation/maintained/repaired. Outliers identified and verified. All within defined, often very short, windows to prevent loss of $$/product/LIVES.
Aaa (Low)
16 Feb 2021 19:31
I find it hard to believe a robot could deal with things like this
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Job description

Conduct chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative and quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, and gaseous materials for research and development of new products or processes, quality control, maintenance of environmental standards, and other work involving experimental, theoretical, or practical application of chemistry and related sciences.

O*NET-SOC code: 19-4031.00