Career Explorer Office and admin
Human edge, steady
Postal service mail carriers
Sort and deliver mail for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Deliver mail on established route by vehicle or on foot. Includes postal service mail carriers employed by USPS contractors.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 22% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it moderate), and US jobs are projected to change by -0.3% 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)
- $60,550
- Job growth to 2035
- -0.3%
- Openings a year
- 19,600
- People doing it (2025)
- 316,000
- Usual route in
- No formal credential, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
- Obtain formal documentation or authorization
- Process digital or online data
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Process shipments or mail
- Collect fares or payments
- Sort materials or products
What the work looks like
- Scan labels on letters or parcels to confirm receipt.
- Obtain signed receipts for registered, certified, and insured mail, collect associated charges, and complete any necessary paperwork.
- Return to the post office with mail collected from homes, businesses, and public mailboxes.
- Sort mail for delivery, arranging it in delivery sequence.
- Deliver mail to residences and business establishments along specified routes by walking or driving, using a combination of satchels, carts, cars, and small trucks.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 58, -0.9%
- Animal breedersHuman edge, steady, Index 60, +3.0%
- Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operatorsHuman edge, steady, Index 30, -5.3%
- Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal serviceHuman edge, steady, Index 33, -7.2%
Also known as: City Letter Carrier, Letter Carrier, Mail Carrier, Rural Carrier Associate (RCA), City Carrier, City Carrier Assistant (CCA), City Mail Carrier, Rural Carrier.
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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.