Career Explorer Business and finance
Changing shape
Cost estimators
Prepare cost estimates for product manufacturing, construction projects, or services to aid management in bidding on or determining price of product or service. May specialize according to particular service performed or type of product manufactured.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 10% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by -3.1% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on creative vision.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $78,740
- Job growth to 2035
- -3.1%
- Openings a year
- 17,600
- People doing it (2025)
- 226,000
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Determine values or prices of goods or services
- Analyze business or financial data
- Evaluate the characteristics, usefulness, or performance of products or technologies
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Coordinate activities with clients, agencies, or organizations
- Monitor financial data or activities
- Communicate with others about business strategies
What the work looks like
- Analyze blueprints and other documentation to prepare time, cost, materials, and labor estimates.
- Confer with engineers, architects, owners, contractors, and subcontractors on changes and adjustments to cost estimates.
- Collect historical cost data to estimate costs for current or future products.
- Assess cost effectiveness of products, projects or services, tracking actual costs relative to bids as the project develops.
- Consult with clients, vendors, personnel in other departments, or construction foremen to discuss and formulate estimates and resolve issues.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as cost estimation software has made this work more efficient.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Compensation, benefits, and job analysis specialistsGrows with AI, Index 27, +6.0%
- Accountants and auditorsGrows with AI, Index 14, +5.0%
- Financial examinersGrows with AI, Index 30, +9.3%
- Financial specialists, all otherGrows with AI, Index 17, +4.1%
Also known as: Construction Estimator, Cost Analyst, Cost Estimator, Estimator, Acquisition Cost Estimator, Analyst, Cost Consultant, Cost Engineer.
Is this career on your child's list?
Build a free Career Playbook matched to your child, or get a 90-day Action Plan with dated next steps, written for your child by name.
Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.