Career Explorer Office and admin
Human edge, steady
Meter readers, utilities
Read meter and record consumption of electricity, gas, water, or steam.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 10% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by -10.5% by 2035, expected to shrink.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $48,150
- Job growth to 2035
- -10.5%
- Openings a year
- 1,400
- People doing it (2025)
- 19,700
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
- Process digital or online data
- Assist others to access additional services or resources
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Notify others of emergencies or problems
- Operate transportation equipment or vehicles
- Monitor equipment operation
What the work looks like
- Read electric, gas, water, or steam consumption meters and enter data in route books or hand-held computers.
- Upload into office computers all information collected on hand-held computers during meter rounds, or return route books or hand-held computers to business offices so that data can be compiled.
- Walk or drive vehicles along established routes to take readings of meter dials.
- Verify readings in cases where consumption appears to be abnormal, and record possible reasons for fluctuations.
- Install new or replace broken meters.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as alternative remote meter reading technologies (e.g., AMR, AMI, and other smart systems) increasingly replace manual meter readings by automatically sending energy usage data.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Postal service mail carriersHuman edge, steady, Index 22, -0.3%
- Animal breedersHuman edge, steady, Index 60, +3.0%
- Couriers and messengersHuman edge, growing, Index 66, +8.0%
- Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 30, -5.3%
Also known as: Meter Reader, Meter Technician (Meter Tech), Water Meter Reader, Water Use Inspector, Field Technician (Field Tech), Meter Reading Clerk, Meter Service Technician (Meter Service Tech), Meter Service Worker.
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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.