Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists

Detailed Occupation

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2021 Workforce

40.2k

Average Age

40.3

Average Salary

$97,475

Average Male Salary

$101,034

Average Female Salary

$82,300

About

Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists are most often employed by the Services incidental to transportation industry. The average yearly wage for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists was $97,475 in 2021.

The locations that employ the most Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists are St. Mary's & Calvert Counties PUMA, MD, Avon, Avon Lake & North Ridgeville Cities PUMA, OH, and Escambia County (South) PUMA, FL. The locations with a relatively high concentration of Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists are Craven County PUMA, NC, Fayette County PUMA, GA, and Hope Mills & Spring Lake Towns PUMA, NC.

Photo by Naval Surface Warriors

Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations Transportation & Material Moving Occupations Transportation Occupations

Employment

Employment and salary information for the Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists workforce. Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists workforce in 2021 was 40,243 people, of which 19% were women and 81% were men. Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists are paid most in Berkeley, Jefferson, Mineral, Hampshire & Morgan Counties PUMA, WV but are relatively concentrated in Craven County PUMA, NC.

Employment Over Time

Metric

Grouping

32,599

Male Workforce

± 4.43k

7,644

Female Workforce

± 2.15k

The Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists workforce in 2021 was 40,243 people (19% women and 81% men). This implies an average annual growth of −4.36% between 2014 (42,078) and 2021 (40,243).

Employment by Location

Level

Metric

This map shows the states in the United States shaded by average wage for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists.

During 2021, the states that concentrated the best average annual wage were Georgia ($133,547), Indiana ($129,339), and Tennessee ($125,852).

Yearly Wage Ranking

$97,475

AVERAGE WAGE

#57 in the ranking (2021)

$59,596

NATIONAL AVERAGE WAGE

For all occupations across the US

In 2021, Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists earned an average of $97,475, $37,880 more than the average national salary of $59,596

The graph shows the ranking of Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists in relation to all Detailed Occupation in 2021.

Wage Distribution

Gender

0.344

WAGE GINI

In 2021, Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists had a wage GINI coefficient of 0.344, which is lower than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed more evenly for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists (shown in red) than for the overall labor force (shown in gray).

The graphic shows the distribution of average salaries by buckets for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists compared to the entire workforce in the country.

Industry

Information on the industries that employ Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists and on wages for those in the field. Services incidental to transportation is the industry that employs the most Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists, both by share and by number, though the highest paid industry for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists, by average wage, is Navigational, measuring, electromedical, & control instruments manufacturing ($144,782).

Occupations by Industries

Metric

Value

40.2k

2021 Workforce

± 4,924

2.22%

1 YEAR GROWTH

± 17%

This graphic shows the share of Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists employed by various industries. Services incidental to transportation employs the largest share of Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists at 65.9%, followed by Air transportation with 21.5% and National security & international affairs with 12.6%.

Diversity

Demographic information on Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists in the US. The workforce of Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists in 2021 was 40,243 people, with 19% woman, and 81% men. The average age of male Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists in the workforce is 40.8 and of female Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists is 38.1, and the most common race/ethnicity for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists is White.

Gender and Age

Metric

The workforce of Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists in 2021 was 40,243 people, with 19% woman, and 81% men.

The age ranges that concentrated the largest workforce were 30 to 34 years (7,036 people), 35 to 39 years (6,601 people), and 25 to 29 years (5,701 people). Among them they concentrated 48.5% of the total workforce.

Ethnicity

Gender

In 2021, 13.3% of Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists workers were Hispanic and 86.7% non-Hispanic.

The treemap shows the distribution of Hispanic workers according to their origin, highlighting Mexican (66.7%), Puerto Rican (24.8)%, and All Other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino (8.5)%

You can review this information by gender using the selectors above.

Races

In 2021, 76.4% of the Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists workforce were White, of which 17% were women and 83% men. Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Black (9.52%) and Two or More Races (7.15%).

Education & Skills

Data on higher education choices for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists from The Department of Education and Census Bureau. The most common major for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists is Transportation but the most specialized major according to RCA in 2021 were Transportation.

Among the necessary skills for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists, Complex Problem Solving stands, but the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists need more than the average amount of Operations Analysis.

Majors

ACS PUMS data only shows the major for bachelor's degrees. However, we can filter the data based on highest degree obtained.

Type of Majors

Degree

The most common majors achieved by Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists in 2021 (counting all academic degrees) were Transportation (5,311 people), Business (3,269 people), and Engineering (1,231 people).

You can review this information for different academic grades by modifying the option selected in the selector above.

Education Levels

Metric

The main educational levels achieved by the Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists workers were Bachelors Degree (13,750 people), Some college (12,177 people), and Associates Degree (6,382 people).

The graphic shows the Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists workforce by gender and educational level.

Skills

Chart

Value

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Air traffic controllers & airfield operations specialists need many skills, but most especially Complex Problem Solving, Active Listening, Monitoring.