Power Plant Operators

Moderate 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
3.7/10
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

51% (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.

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

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

What users think

Based on 55 votes

54% 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 51% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Power Plant 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

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Power Plant Operators was $99,670 ($48 per hour).

The median annual wage for Power Plant Operators was 101.4% 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 slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Power Plant Operators' job openings is expected to decline 11.2% 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

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 30,720 people employed as 'Power Plant Operators' within the United States.

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

Put another way, around 1 in 5 thousand people are employed as 'Power Plant Operators'.

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What people are saying (4)

Jon Warr (Low)
11 Jan 2024 17:42
My friend who is an electrical engineer said there's a very low risk of automation. In his own words,
"That job wont be automated any time soon. That and most trades are the safer ones when it comes to jobs being automated. The jobs to be worried about would be ones like data entry where theres ways to automate the system that never change
Power engineering there is too many variables to automate efficiently and thats why theyd need operators everywhere. Its a job thats increasing in demand with the amount of labor shortage because people dont do that type of work as much anymore where it is specialized and industrial"
Brady (Uncertain)
09 Mar 2023 14:26
Considering plant operator's main task at work is to check on the computers and machines and make sure they're doing their job right, and fix them if they aren't. It is a 50/50 shot that computers themselves would be able to problem solve and fix faulty machines / computers. If humans can't even regulate themselves, what makes you think that computers who don't posses the ability for accurate emotion recognition, can fix a faulty system in an accident / dire time where understanding the situation is at task?
Jonny Z.
23 Nov 2020 20:52
Are Power Plant Operators the same as 3rd class power engineers? which is kind of the same thing. I'm 18 years old and not working yet, but I'm in rolled in a Power engineering course. Is there still a high chance that this trade is going to be taken by robots also?
Jon Warr
11 Jan 2024 17:37
Doubt it. And yes sort of, a power plant operator is one of the many jobs you can do as a power engineer. I'm also enrolled in a power engineering course. I have a friend who did a BSc in electrical engineering who's quite smart and in the know. He said there's no risk of automation with power engineering, at least not for a long time, like 50 years. I think this calculated risk level is way off.
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Job description

Control, operate, or maintain machinery to generate electric power. Includes auxiliary equipment operators.

O*NET-SOC code: 51-8013.00