Surveyor vs professional surveyor

The differences between surveyors and professional surveyors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a surveyor and a professional surveyor. Additionally, a professional surveyor has an average salary of $51,224, which is higher than the $46,875 average annual salary of a surveyor.

The top three skills for a surveyor include GPS, survey data and data collection. The most important skills for a professional surveyor are survey data, legal descriptions, and GPS.

Surveyor vs professional surveyor overview

	Surveyor	Professional Surveyor
Yearly salary	$46,875	$51,224
Hourly rate	$22.54	$24.63
Growth rate	1%	1%
Number of jobs	4,087	45,097
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	6	6

Surveyor vs professional surveyor salary

Surveyors and professional surveyors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Surveyor	Professional Surveyor
Average salary	$46,875	$51,224
Salary range	Between $32,000 And $67,000	Between $34,000 And $76,000
Highest paying City	San Diego, CA	-
Highest paying state	California	-
Best paying company	The Citadel	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between surveyor and professional surveyor education

There are a few differences between a surveyor and a professional surveyor in terms of educational background:

	Surveyor	Professional Surveyor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Business	Surveying, Mapping, And Hydraulic Technologies
Most common college	Pennsylvania State University	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Surveyor vs professional surveyor demographics

Here are the differences between surveyors' and professional surveyors' demographics:

	Surveyor	Professional Surveyor
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 72.4% Female, 27.6%	Male, 73.5% Female, 26.5%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 4.9% White, 75.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between surveyor and professional surveyor duties and responsibilities

Surveyor example responsibilities.

Utilize GPS technology to manage a two man robotic crew assign to residential/ commercial development projects.
Assist the PLS with ALTAs, B2, legals, exhibits, topo s and plats drawing and field work.
Set up and run instruments.
Work with Trimble GNSS surveying systems.
Survey of proposal access roads by RTK method.
Create alignment sheets in Carlson from survey base files.

Professional surveyor example responsibilities.

Implement the use of GPS into the day to day survey operations.
Create and utilize geographic information systems (GIS) for various clients.
Adjust and operate surveying instruments such as prisms, theodolites, and electronicdistance-measuring equipment.
Interface with multiple legal, financial and governmental entities to meet requirements of approvals processes and finalize complex ALTA surveys.
Develop new data from photogrammetric records.

Surveyor vs professional surveyor skills

Common surveyor skills

GPS, 16%
Survey Data, 9%
Data Collection, 6%
Survey Equipment, 6%
Civil 3D, 6%
Customer Service, 5%

Common professional surveyor skills

Survey Data, 25%
Legal Descriptions, 22%
GPS, 21%
Civil 3D, 12%
CAD, 4%
As-Built, 4%