Crane and Tower Operators

High 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
4.5/10
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

62% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): This occupation shows a significant risk of end-to-end replacement by automation. Many core parts of the role may be structured, repeatable, software-driven, or physically predictable enough for AI, machines, or robotic systems to take over. If you work in this area, it may be worth exploring safer related careers or moving towards more human-centred responsibilities.

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.
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

What users think

Based on 74 votes

49% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. However, the automation risk level we have generated suggests a much higher chance of automation: 62% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Crane and Tower Operators 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 Crane and Tower Operators was $66,370 ($32 per hour).

The median annual wage for Crane and Tower Operators was 34.1% 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

Moderate growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Crane and Tower Operators' job openings is expected to rise 3.0% 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 42,000 people employed as 'Crane and Tower Operators' within the United States.

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

Put another way, around 1 in 3 thousand people are employed as 'Crane and Tower Operators'.

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What people are saying (6)

Leave a comment
Ross (Low)
24 Jul 2025 01:37
Too much visual work to avoid catastophies.

Its cheaper to keep the human for insurance risk.
Sean Hicks (Highly likely)
01 Oct 2024 03:29
It's just a matter of time I mean these owners of these ports they can save millions of dollars because they don't have to pay AI automated workers anything they work 24/7 24 hours 7 days a week they don't take breaks they don't complain they don't need a cafeteria they don't even need a parking lot for their vehicles you don't have to pay them bottom line it's a no-brainer second of all you don't have to give him a pension you don't have to listen to them bitching about strikes and all that nonsense okay it's over all those people will be replaced AI is only been here for a year and a half in the next year to 2 years there will be no dock workers why would they pay people when they can get AI that works for free 24 hours a day 7 days a week no complaining and their job nobody messes up they don't mess up they think basically a hundred thousand times per minute faster than a human being that's a fact human beings are dinosaurs okay these doc workers that are going on strike they want them to so in their contract they can fire them and then they don't have to pay them a pension because they broke their contract that's why biden's not going to interfere and send them back to work they're their own worst enemy they're so stupid and sitting there ways that they're their own worst enemy they're their own demise maybe they could have lasted another couple of years maybe but by doing this they're done in China almost all the ports there's only like 5% of human beings in all the ports in China and Japan there are no more human beings why who needs them Amazon giant buildings Amazon units their buildings are like 8 Miles by four miles four stories in this literally like 20 human beings maybe it's all AI robot why pay humans it's the end of human beings the only people are the greedy owners of all this that are going to be okay and there's no middle class anymore and basically there's going to be hardly any working poor because there's no jobs for them automation is inevitable why pay silly humans when you can get AI that works for free it's a no-brainer
Hunter R (Low)
16 Sep 2024 19:11
Being a crane operator, the amount of real time risk assessment that is needed is not possible by machines. Maybe one day. But not with in 20 years.
Crane Services Edmonton
11 Oct 2023 13:59
Crane and tower operators play a vital role in ensuring safe and efficient lifting operations. This topic explores the responsibilities of operators, including training, certification, and ongoing evaluation to maintain a high level of safety on construction sites.
RICH
20 Jun 2023 16:13
Not for construction cranes. Crawler ,hydraulic cranes.
Anonymous (Highly likely)
21 Sep 2021 23:17
I believe a system of loading and unloading at a port could be done using white circular tags on top of cargo containers to represent the depth and coordinates of a location. A ship-to-shore crane could use Artificial Intelligence to know the type of ship in port and the inventory of shipments using inventory statistics from other AI loading docks. These circles on the tops and possibly sides of the containers (and possibly the boat to determine what kind of boat is docking) could be seen by a camera that could determine the proportions of distance by what size the tags are in comparison to others. The boat would have to dock in a certain zone to be analyzed by cameras. Redundant memory could basically keep ports running at top efficiency as long as engineers could make a crane that could handle high rates of the workforce for the increased efficiency of movement and certainty of execution.

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Job description

Operate mechanical boom and cable or tower and cable equipment to lift and move materials, machines, or products in many directions.

O*NET-SOC code: 53-7021.00