Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials

Low pay & lowrisk
Low Risk
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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
3.3/10
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

31% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

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.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very 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.
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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.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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What users think

Based on 257 votes

66% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. However, employees may be able to find reassurance in the automated risk level we have generated, which shows 31% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials 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 low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials was $38,820 ($19 per hour).

The median annual wage for Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials was 21.6% 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

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials' job openings is expected to rise 5.7% 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 15,080 people employed as 'Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials' within the United States.

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

Put another way, around 1 in 10 thousand people are employed as 'Umpires, Referees, and Other Sports Officials'.

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What people are saying (11)

Leave a comment
Josiah (Moderate)
02 May 2023 19:20
There are many objective rules that robots are already being used to replace referees. With time, they may also be able to determine some of the subjective rulings as well, although it seems likely that humans will always be there as a middle man and mediator
Tomáš Staroň (No chance)
18 Jan 2023 12:40
As a sports official myself, I think it would be extremely expensive to replace us.

However, I do believe that AI will have a growing impact on our job.
Old Man Jimmy
15 Sep 2021 01:39
In some sports, like tennis and stuff, it would be easier but other sports like basketball or football are hard
Jay (Moderate)
06 Jun 2021 21:15
I think it is likely because VAR is all done by technology so refereeing itself I think could be done by technology.
Csanad (Moderate)
13 May 2021 12:37
I think sports have an objective aspect to them with referees, so maybe robots would suck
hi
13 Mar 2020 14:20
I don't agree with this, human mistake is part of the game and there would be to many scenarios for the robot to make the correct decision
Sup
31 May 2021 10:34
Human mistake is a terrible part of the game and you only enjoy it if you support the failing team and rely on terrible umpiring
dabonemhaters (Highly likely)
05 Apr 2019 10:47
New AI technology will be more accurate on fouls, off-sides etc
Jacob
02 Apr 2019 01:21
Human referees make sports better
hello jacob
05 Apr 2019 10:53
I think the same but robots are cheaper and the companies don't care if you prefer humans over robots, all they want is the money and to save as much as they can.
T
16 Aug 2019 17:56
no they don't, they change outcomes of the game in terrible ways
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Job description

Officiate at competitive athletic or sporting events. Detect infractions of rules and decide penalties according to established regulations. Includes all sporting officials, referees, and competition judges.

O*NET-SOC code: 27-2023.00