How To Become A Utility Locate Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a utility locate technician 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 utility locate technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.84 an hour? That's $37,099 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 76,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreUtility Locate TechnicianUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,099

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.6

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.17%

Asian 4.55%

Black or African American 11.03%

Hispanic or Latino 17.64%

Unknown 4.25%

White 61.36%

Gender

female 7.92%

male 92.08%

Age - 49

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 - 49

Stress level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a utility locate technician

Explore utility locate technician education requirements

Most common utility locate technician degrees

High School Diploma

39.2 %

Associate

23.6 %

Bachelor's

17.9 %

Start to develop specific utility locate technician skills

Skills	Percentages
DOT	18.10%
Necessary Paperwork	8.90%
OSHA	8.43%
Safety Equipment	8.38%
TV	7.03%

Complete relevant utility locate technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New utility locate technicians 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 utility locate technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real utility locate technician resumes.

Research utility locate technician duties and responsibilities

Perform inspection reviews on final product and packaging to ensure quality standards are achieved according to GMP guidelines.
Install Tpo, Pvc, and duro last single ply products.
Instruct laborers in EPDM and PVC.
Located/Markete utility gas, electric, and cable lines to prevent damage during excavations.

Prepare your utility locate technician resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable utility locate technician resume templates

Build a professional utility locate technician 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 utility locate technician resume.