Highway Maintenance Workers

Moderate Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (3)

Lower estimated automation risk

Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
28% automation risk | Low Risk
24.6 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Fits workers with road-spill, cleanup, PPE, and safety-procedure experience who add hazmat training.

Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
38% automation risk | Low Risk
More jobs
14.6 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Transfers repair, troubleshooting, hand tools, facilities upkeep, and work-order habits beyond road assets.

Traffic Technicians
45% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better
7.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Builds on roadway signs, traffic safety, field observation, and work-zone knowledge for traffic studies.

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
4.4/10
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

53% (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.

Working directly with the public

Very important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
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

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

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

What users think

Based on 26 votes

44% 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 53% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Highway Maintenance Workers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Highway Maintenance Workers was $49,070 ($24 per hour).

The median annual wage for Highway Maintenance Workers was 0.9% lower 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 'Highway Maintenance Workers' 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

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 151,750 people employed as 'Highway Maintenance Workers' within the United States.

This represents around 0.10% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Highway Maintenance Workers'.

People also viewed

Lawyers Computer Programmers Actors Web Developers Mechanical Engineers

What people are saying (0)

Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000

Job description

Maintain highways, municipal and rural roads, airport runways, and rights-of-way. Duties include patching broken or eroded pavement and repairing guard rails, highway markers, and snow fences. May also mow or clear brush from along road, or plow snow from roadway.

O*NET-SOC code: 47-4051.00