Compare Occupations

	Transit and Railroad Police	Detectives and Criminal Investigators	Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers	Correctional Officers and Jailers	First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers
SUMMARY	16% Minimal Risk	15% Minimal Risk	15% Minimal Risk	24% Low Risk	25% Low Risk
JOB SCORE	5.8/10	6.7/10	7.7/10	4.8/10	5.4/10
POLLING	47% (Moderate Risk, Based on 24 votes)	27% (Low Risk, Based on 416 votes)	20% (Low Risk, Based on 738 votes)	35% (Low Risk, Based on 202 votes)	There hasn't been enough votes on this occupation yet
GROWTH by year 2034	3.0%	-0.7%	3.1%	-7.8%	2.7%
WAGES	$82,320 or $39.57 per hour	$93,580 or $44.99 per hour	$76,290 or $36.67 per hour	$57,970 or $27.87 per hour	$58,610 or $28.18 per hour
VOLUME as of 2024	3,000	110,790	666,990	365,380	70,310
SNOWFLAKE [?] 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.
DESCRIPTION	Protect and police railroad and transit property, employees, or passengers.	Conduct investigations related to suspected violations of federal, state, or local laws to prevent or solve crimes.	Maintain order and protect life and property by enforcing local, tribal, state, or federal laws and ordinances. Perform a combination of the following duties: patrol a specific area; direct traffic; issue traffic summonses; investigate accidents; apprehend and arrest suspects, or serve legal processes of courts. Includes police officers working at educational institutions.	Guard inmates in penal or rehabilitative institutions in accordance with established regulations and procedures. May guard prisoners in transit between jail, courtroom, prison, or other point. Includes deputy sheriffs and police who spend the majority of their time guarding prisoners in correctional institutions.	Directly supervise and coordinate activities of security workers and security guards.

Compare Occupations Side by Side

Curious how automation and AI could affect your career? Our comparison tool lets you view two or more jobs side by side, helping you quickly spot differences in risk level, pay, growth, and popularity. All of this is based on a mix of academic research, user polling, and official labour data.

Automation Risk

Each occupation shows a probability of automation. A higher score means machines and algorithms are more likely to take over the role in the future.

Job Score

A quick summary of how a job performs overall — factoring in wages, growth, volume, and automation risk. It’s a handy way to see the bigger picture at a glance.

Polling Data

Thousands of visitors cast their votes on how “automatable” each job feels. These community insights are shown alongside the calculated probabilities.

Growth & Wages

See how fast each occupation is projected to grow and what people earn on average. High wages don’t always mean high security — automation risk still matters.

Volume of Workers

Explore how many people currently work in each occupation and in which year the data was recorded. Popularity can affect how disruptive automation will be for the wider economy.

The Snowflake Diagram

Each snowflake visualises the balance between automation risk, wages, growth, and job volume. Bigger and greener areas mean stronger performance in that dimension.

Use this comparison page to research careers, guide students, or simply explore the future of work. All data is regularly updated to keep the results relevant.