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Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Boilermakers?
Task-level automation exposure for Boilermakers: 18 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
15%
weighted task index
18 of 18 tasks scored
Median Salary
$76,410 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Low
10,190 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
-1.8%
employment change
700 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 38 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$29,120 – $118,150
Highest medians
California $118,150
Mississippi $105,910
New Mexico $101,200
Illinois $99,730
Michigan $98,220
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $29,120
Maryland $42,250
North Carolina $49,720
Tennessee $51,810
Nevada $61,430
State figures come from the 47-2011 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 15%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 75%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 0%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 0%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 21/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
18 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 7%
1 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%
0 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 93%
17 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#24011 · Core · 30% automatable
Conduct pressure tests on vessels, such as boilers.
physical manipulation — Functional product testing is hands-on
Test products for functionality or quality. Test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment.
#11446 · Core · 70% automatable
Study blueprints to determine locations, relationships, or dimensions of parts.
visual inspection — Specs reading aided, human validates requirements
Review blueprints or specifications to determine work requirements.
#11438 · Core · 18% automatable
Examine boilers, pressure vessels, tanks, or vats to locate defects, such as leaks, weak spots, or defective sections, so that they can be repaired.
visual inspection — Direct physical inspection of industrial equipment
Inspect industrial or commercial equipment to ensure proper operation.
#11440 · Core · 18% automatable
Inspect assembled vessels or individual components, such as tubes, fittings, valves, controls, or auxiliary mechanisms, to locate any defects.
visual inspection — Direct physical inspection of industrial equipment
Inspect industrial or commercial equipment to ensure proper operation.
#11444 · Core · 8% automatable
Lay out plate, sheet steel, or other heavy metal and locate and mark bending and cutting lines, using protractors, compasses, and drawing instruments or templates.
physical manipulation — Marking reference points is hands-on site work
Mark reference points on construction materials.
#11443 · Core · 10% automatable
Bell, bead with power hammers, or weld pressure vessel tube ends to ensure leakproof joints.
physical manipulation — Welding is skilled hands-on metalwork
Weld metal components.
#11450 · Core · 16% automatable
Locate and mark reference points for columns or plates on boiler foundations, following blueprints and using straightedges, squares, transits, or measuring instruments.
physical manipulation — Physical measurement for assembly fitting
Measure materials or objects for installation or assembly. Mark reference points on construction materials.
#11451 · Core · 10% automatable
Shape or fabricate parts, such as stacks, uptakes, or chutes, to adapt pressure vessels, heat exchangers, or piping to premises, using heavy-metalworking machines such as brakes, rolls, or drill presses.
physical manipulation — Part fabrication requires physical machining and handling
Fabricate parts or components.
#11449 · Core · 4% automatable
Position, align, and secure structural parts or related assemblies to boiler frames, tanks, or vats of pressure vessels, following blueprints.
physical manipulation — Positioning structural components is physical labor
Install metal structural components. Position structural components.
#11452 · Core · 10% automatable
Clean pressure vessel equipment, using scrapers, wire brushes, and cleaning solvents.
physical manipulation — Equipment and facility cleaning is hands-on
Clean equipment or facilities.
#11441 · Core · 10% automatable
Repair or replace defective pressure vessel parts, such as safety valves or regulators, using torches, jacks, caulking hammers, power saws, threading dies, welding equipment, or metalworking machinery.
physical manipulation — Physical maintenance of mechanical equipment
Maintain mechanical equipment.
#11442 · Core · 8% automatable
Attach rigging and signal crane or hoist operators to lift heavy frame and plate sections or other parts into place.
physical manipulation — Crane/hoist operation demands real-time physical control
Operate cranes, hoists, or other moving or lifting equipment. Signal equipment operators to indicate proper equipment positioning.
#11447 · Core · 10% automatable
Straighten or reshape bent pressure vessel plates or structure parts, using hammers, jacks, or torches.
physical manipulation — Part fabrication requires physical machining and handling
Fabricate parts or components.
#11448 · Core · 10% automatable
Shape seams, joints, or irregular edges of pressure vessel sections or structural parts to attain specified fit of parts, using cutting torches, hammers, files, or metalworking machines.
physical manipulation — Part fabrication requires physical machining and handling
Fabricate parts or components.
#11439 · Core · 10% automatable
Bolt or arc weld pressure vessel structures and parts together, using wrenches or welding equipment.
physical manipulation — Welding is skilled hands-on metalwork
Weld metal components.
#11445 · Core · 5% automatable
Install manholes, handholes, taps, tubes, valves, gauges, or feedwater connections in drums of water tube boilers, using hand tools.
physical manipulation — Installing gauges is hands-on physical work
Install gauges or controls.
#11454 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Assemble large vessels in an on-site fabrication shop prior to installation to ensure proper fit.
physical manipulation — Physical assembly of products by hand
Assemble products or production equipment.
#11453 · Supplemental · 2% automatable
Install refractory bricks or other heat-resistant materials in fireboxes of pressure vessels.
physical manipulation — Masonry requires skilled manual labor
Install masonry materials.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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