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Occupation

Locomotive Engineers

Drive electric, diesel-electric, steam, or gas-turbine-electric locomotives to transport passengers or freight. Interpret train orders, electronic or manual signals, and railroad rules and regulations.

52 AI exposure
51 Human advantage
54 Market demand
52 AI leverage

Is Locomotive Engineers a safe career from AI?

Locomotive Engineers scores 52 out of 100 for AI exposure, which is low. Most of what this job involves is not the kind of task current AI systems are good at, largely because it happens in a physical place rather than on a screen.

Its human advantage score is 51. There is a real physical and in-person component to this work, alongside a good deal that could be done from anywhere. Market demand scores 54 out of 100, combining how many of these jobs exist with where that number is heading. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment roughly flat over ten years.

What Locomotive Engineers pay

The median wage is $77,400 a year. The lower quarter earns under $73,410 and the upper quarter over $84,230. About 31,990 people do this work in the United States.

Where Locomotive Engineers can go next

Occupations that share most of what this job already requires, ranked by how much carries over.

Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders 91% of the skills carry over $58k median
Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers 87% of the skills carry over $58k median
Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers 79% of the skills carry over $93k median
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians 80% of the skills carry over $79k median

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Where this comes from

Work content and transitions from O*NET, the US Department of Labor's occupational database. Wages and employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. AI exposure from published research measuring which occupations current AI capabilities overlap with. None of it is a forecast, and none of these numbers are ours: they are public data, put next to each other.

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