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The differences between inspectors and surveyors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a surveyor has an average salary of $46,875, which is higher than the $38,757 average annual salary of an inspector.
The top three skills for an inspector include sketch, good communication and magnetic particle. The most important skills for a surveyor are GPS, survey data, and data collection.
| Inspector | Surveyor | |
| Yearly salary | $38,757 | $46,875 |
| Hourly rate | $18.63 | $22.54 |
| Growth rate | -3% | 1% |
| Number of jobs | 17,670 | 4,087 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 34% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Average age | 45 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | 6 |
An inspector is responsible for overseeing the overall condition of the site, ensuring that it complies with the safety standards and regulations. Inspectors' duties include monitoring the quality of the materials used, inspecting any defects and discrepancies that might compromise the operations, generating reports to assess the product costing if it meets the budget goals, and utilizing available resources in the market for the highest quality project. An inspector must have excellent decision-making and critical-thinking skills to perform comprehensive actions on risk management and service delivery.
A surveyor is responsible for measuring the physical boundaries of a property based on the design documents. Surveyors' duties include determining reference points using special measuring equipment, analyzing land records, evaluating the stability of the property location, verifying data to property agencies and other organizations, responding to the client's inquiries, processing legal property documents, and finalizing boundary lines and maps. A surveyor must have a broad knowledge of the land and property processes, as well as excellent research and analytical skills.
Inspectors and surveyors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Inspector | Surveyor | |
| Average salary | $38,757 | $46,875 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $54,000 | Between $32,000 And $67,000 |
| Highest paying City | Vancouver, WA | San Diego, CA |
| Highest paying state | Louisiana | California |
| Best paying company | Los Alamos National Laboratory | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | - |
There are a few differences between an inspector and a surveyor in terms of educational background:
| Inspector | Surveyor | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 34% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | Pennsylvania State University |
Here are the differences between inspectors' and surveyors' demographics:
| Inspector | Surveyor | |
| Average age | 45 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.7% Female, 38.3% | Male, 72.4% Female, 27.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 8.1% White, 56.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 4.9% White, 76.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 7% |