How To Become A Professional Land Surveyor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a professional land surveyor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

How do you know where your land ends and your neighbors begin? How much of your land belongs to you, and how much is municipal property? Most of us don't know the exact lines that define our property's boundaries, and in that case, we seek a Professional Land Surveyor's expertise.

Also called a Licensed Land Surveyor, the Professional Surveyor is an accredited professional who conducts land surveys to measure and define the real property and its boundaries. They may work as a sole proprietor, contract surveyor, or be employed by a Land survey company.

If you're an entry-level surveyor, your salaries tend to be around $19.56 per hour or $40,684 annually. However, with more experience, your wages can be significantly higher than the base one.

ScoreProfessional Land SurveyorUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,097

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.8

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.52%

Asian 4.99%

Black or African American 3.35%

Hispanic or Latino 10.87%

Unknown 4.84%

White 75.44%

Gender

female 9.27%

male 90.73%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

7.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.3

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a professional land surveyor

Explore professional land surveyor education requirements

Most common professional land surveyor degrees

Bachelor's

52.2 %

Associate

31.9 %

Master's

5.8 %

Start to develop specific professional land surveyor skills

Skills	Percentages
GPS	17.97%
Civil 3D	10.10%
PLS	9.62%
Survey Projects	7.18%
Trimble Gps	6.27%

Complete relevant professional land surveyor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New professional land surveyors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a professional land surveyor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real professional land surveyor resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed professional land surveyor usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed professional land surveyor in most of states. 44 states require professional land surveyors to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Licensed Land Surveyor
Maryland	Degree required	State exam required	PROFESSIONAL LAND SURVEYOR
Alaska	-	-	Land Surveyor
Arkansas	-	State exam required	Professional Surveyor
California	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Land Surveyor

Research professional land surveyor duties and responsibilities

Manage various construction staking projects, as well as manage and oversee field work of various boundary, ALTA/ACSM surveys.
Complete field to finish boundary and topographic surveys utilizing conventional and GPS methods.
Map leases and contracts using various GIS programs.
Record survey measurements and descriptive data using total station and GPS equipment.

Prepare your professional land surveyor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your professional land surveyor resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a professional land surveyor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable professional land surveyor resume templates

Build a professional professional land surveyor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your professional land surveyor resume.