How To Become A Traffic Officer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a traffic officer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

James Gibbens

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a traffic officer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.69 an hour? That's $36,790 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 20,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a traffic officer?

James Gibbens

Adjunct Professor for Criminal Justice, Website

Good Morning Alex, I am the Director of the Brevard Police Testing Center here at EFSC. While I am not an instructor or professor here at EFSC I have been an adjunct professor at Florida Tech in Melbourne, FL since 2009 teaching Criminal Justice courses under the umbrella of the Psychology/Homeland Security Department. Prior to that I retired after 30 years from the Melbourne Police Department. If you want to send me some questions I can answer them.

ScoreTraffic OfficerUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $36,790

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.99%

Asian 2.96%

Black or African American 13.22%

Hispanic or Latino 20.14%

Unknown 4.63%

White 58.07%

Gender

female 27.44%

male 72.56%

Age - 39

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 - 39

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a traffic officer

Explore traffic officer education requirements

Most common traffic officer degrees

Bachelor's

41.1 %

Associate

27.5 %

High School Diploma

21.2 %

Start to develop specific traffic officer skills

Skills	Percentages
Traffic Flow	10.49%
Emergency Situations	10.12%
Patrol	9.87%
Public Safety	9.74%
Traffic Control	9.73%

Complete relevant traffic officer training and internships

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

Research traffic officer duties and responsibilities

Lead team providing cargo, personal property and passenger movements for DoD personnel.
Dispatch road rangers to motorist needing assistance.
Check road sensor data and confirm the data using CCTV video.
Operate all CCTV cameras to locate and observe incidents and dispatch D.O.T.

Prepare your traffic officer resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable traffic officer resume templates

Build a professional traffic officer 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 traffic officer resume.