Commercial Divers

Low Risk
Low High

Alternative careers

Related career paths that build on similar skills and experience

Ship Engineers
28% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better More jobs
View career
Why it fits

Uses vessel systems, pumps, maintenance limits, marine safety, machinery checks, operating logs, and troubleshooting.

Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
26% automation risk | Low Risk
More jobs
View career
Why it fits

Applies underwater pipe repair, valves, fittings, tools, pressure systems, drawings, and field troubleshooting.

Occupational Health and Safety Specialists
19% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Pays better Higher growth
3.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses dive safety, hazard controls, incident records, equipment checks, training, inspections, and procedure enforcement.

Compare this job with others
or search for another job
Share your results with friends and family.

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
6.3/10
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

23% (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.
Jobs that also use this strength

Assisting and caring for others

Quite important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
Jobs that also use this strength

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

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.
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
Show 4 more strengths

Coaching and developing others

Quite important
Why this matters
Helps people learn and improve through coaching, mentoring, and feedback. This relies on trust, motivation, and adapting guidance to each person—work that’s hard to replace end-to-end with automation.
Jobs that also use this strength

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.
Jobs that also use this strength

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.
Jobs that also use this 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.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 80 votes

38% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 23% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Commercial Divers 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 Commercial Divers was $61,130 ($29 per hour).

The median annual wage for Commercial Divers was 23.5% 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

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Commercial Divers' job openings is expected to rise 8.5% 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

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 3,430 people employed as 'Commercial Divers' within the United States.

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

Put another way, around 1 in 44 thousand people are employed as 'Commercial Divers'.

People also viewed

Lawyers Computer Programmers Actors Commercial Pilots Web Developers

What people are saying (3)

Marcus (Moderate)
06 Jul 2023 16:33
High profit for anybody who successfully automates procedures carried out at depth. Time needed for human divers to acclimate to the pressure. Time needed for very specialized training and need for supplies to be sent down with divers. The computer program will likely need to be operated by someone with similar expertise to a commercial diver, but the job itself might no longer entail risky and expensive human dives.
nihilist (Moderate)
09 Aug 2022 17:09
Look at Elon Musk presenting the Tesla semi-truck that has autopilot. It's clear that the technology will only get more advanced.

Hence, there will be no more need for drivers, especially if all the cars have synchronicity. This would be safer than human drivers because computers don't have human error.
Anti-nihilist
17 Apr 2024 13:54
Divers not drivers
Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000

Job description

Work below surface of water, using surface-supplied air or scuba equipment to inspect, repair, remove, or install equipment and structures. May use a variety of power and hand tools, such as drills, sledgehammers, torches, and welding equipment. May conduct tests or experiments, rig explosives, or photograph structures or marine life.

O*NET-SOC code: 49-9092.00