How To Become A Public Works Inspector: What It Is and Career Path

What is a public works inspector and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a public works inspector. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.49 an hour? That's $48,864 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -4% and produce -5,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePublic Works InspectorUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,864

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.7

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.85%

Asian 7.65%

Black or African American 9.53%

Hispanic or Latino 16.61%

Unknown 4.50%

White 60.85%

Gender

female 7.38%

male 92.62%

Age - 46

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 - 46

Stress level

8.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.8

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.3

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a public works inspector

Explore public works inspector education requirements

Most common public works inspector degrees

Bachelor's

47.6 %

Associate

25.4 %

High School Diploma

15.9 %

Start to develop specific public works inspector skills

Skills	Percentages
Asphalt	12.92%
Construction Projects	11.92%
Traffic Control	8.99%
Public Works	8.16%
Construction Sites	7.43%

Complete relevant public works inspector training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New public works inspectors 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 public works inspector based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real public works inspector resumes.

Research public works inspector duties and responsibilities

Coordinate, manage, and conduct geotechnical engineering and engineering geology subsurface investigations.
Inspect all new construct ion city public works projects, including water, sewer, asphalt, and concrete.
Provide QA-QC on GIS files.
Coordinate with the contractor and enforces safety rule and regulation according to OSHA.

Prepare your public works inspector resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your public works inspector 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 public works inspector resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable public works inspector resume templates

Build a professional public works inspector 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 public works inspector resume.

Apply for public works inspector jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a public works inspector job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do public works inspectors rate their job?

5/5

Based on 1 ratings

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Public works inspector reviews

5.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Pros

See & guard that the public/goverment in general get the right construction methodology in public works horizontal & vertical construction from its material to application.

Cons

wasting of citizen/government money in wrong doing during its construction project implementation.