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Grows with AI
Public safety telecommunicators
Operate telephone, radio, or other communication systems to receive and communicate requests for emergency assistance at 9-1-1 public safety answering points and emergency operations centers. Take information from the public and other sources regarding crimes, threats, disturbances, acts of terrorism, fires, medical emergencies, and other public safety matters. May coordinate and provide information to law enforcement and emergency response personnel. May access sensitive databases and other information sources as needed. May provide additional instructions to callers based on knowledge of and certification in law enforcement, fire, or emergency medical procedures.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 33% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +3.7% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on ethical judgement and emotional intelligence.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $53,040
- Job growth to 2035
- +3.7%
- Openings a year
- 9,000
- People doing it (2025)
- 106,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
- Communicate with others about operational plans or activities
- Operate communications equipment or systems
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Maintain operational records
- Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures
- Monitor safety or security of work areas, facilities, or properties
What the work looks like
- Provide emergency medical instructions to callers.
- Question callers to determine their locations and the nature of their problems to determine type of response needed.
- Determine response requirements and relative priorities of situations, and dispatch units in accordance with established procedures.
- Receive incoming telephone or alarm system calls regarding emergency and non-emergency police and fire service, emergency ambulance service, information, and after-hours calls for departments within a city.
- Relay information and messages to and from emergency sites, to law enforcement agencies, and to all other individuals or groups requiring notification.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- First-line supervisors of correctional officersHuman edge, steady, Index 36, -2.5%
- Police and sheriff's patrol officersGrows with AI, Index 62, +3.5%
- Flight attendantsGrows with AI, Index 84, +8.8%
- Licensed practical and licensed vocational nursesHuman edge, steady, Index 82, +3.0%
Also known as: Communications Officer, Communications Operator, Public Safety Dispatcher, Telecommunicator, 911 Dispatcher, Communications Specialist, Emergency Communications Dispatcher, Emergency Communications Operator (ECO).
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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.