Career Explorer Protective services
Human edge, steady
Parking enforcement workers
Patrol assigned area, such as public parking lot or city streets to issue tickets to overtime parking violators and illegally parked vehicles.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 27% 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 -1.1% 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)
- $46,730
- Job growth to 2035
- -1.1%
- Openings a year
- 800
- People doing it (2025)
- 9,400
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Maintain safety or security
- Issue documentation
- Explain regulations, policies, or procedures
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Notify others of emergencies or problems
- Monitor safety or security of work areas, facilities, or properties
- Replenish inventories of materials, equipment, or products
What the work looks like
- Enter and retrieve information pertaining to vehicle registration, identification, and status, using hand-held computers.
- Prepare and maintain required records, including logs of parking enforcement activities, and records of contested citations.
- Maintain close communications with dispatching personnel, using two-way radios or cell phones.
- Patrol an assigned area by vehicle or on foot to ensure public compliance with existing parking ordinance.
- Identify vehicles in violation of parking codes, checking with dispatchers when necessary to confirm identities or to determine whether vehicles need to be booted or towed.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as cities continue to adopt automated license plate readers.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Crossing guards and flaggersHuman edge, growing, Index 57, +3.5%
- Bus drivers, transit and intercityHuman edge, growing, Index 68, +4.1%
- Gambling dealersHuman edge, steady, Index 44, +3.4%
- Gambling change persons and booth cashiersHuman edge, steady, Index 41, -1.9%
Also known as: Parking Control Officer, Parking Enforcement Officer (PEO), Parking Enforcer, Ticket Writer, Meter Maid, Parking Enforcement Technician (Parking Enforcement Tech), Parking Officer, Parking Patroller.
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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.