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

4.0/10

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.

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

4.0/10

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

54% (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

What users think

Based on 51 votes

51% 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 54% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Rail Car Repairers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Highly likely

Moderate

Uncertain

Low

No chance

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Rail Car Repairers was $65,680 ($32 per hour).

The median annual wage for Rail Car Repairers was 32.7% 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 'Rail Car Repairers' job openings is expected to rise 2.8% 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 18,300 people employed as 'Rail Car Repairers' within the United States.

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

Put another way, around 1 in 8 thousand people are employed as 'Rail Car Repairers'.

What people are saying (1)

Austin (No chance)

11 Aug 2025 14:51

As a rail car mechanic myself and knowing how the job is. It will be very hard to automate the variance of the job. Perhaps a very small portion of the inspection side can be but that would only be for very obvious defects in a train. I struggle to see how it could see cracks in areas where line of sight is blocked by other parts of the car itself. Not to mention the weather like a snow storm to add visibility issues.

Rail Car Repairers

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