Community Sentiment
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Do you agree with the AI automation risk score calculated for this occupation?
AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Community Health Workers?
Task-level automation exposure for Community Health Workers: 29 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
43%
weighted task index
29 of 29 tasks scored
Median Salary
$51,850 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
61,660 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+12.7%
employment change
7,000 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 52 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$36,900 – $66,680
Highest medians
New Hampshire $66,680
District of Columbia $62,510
North Dakota $59,610
Colorado $59,260
Hawaii $58,450
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $36,900
West Virginia $37,950
Mississippi $39,520
Tennessee $42,310
Alabama $43,340
State figures come from the 21-1094 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 43%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 2%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 61%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 5%
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 1/100
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
29 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) 9%
2 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 72%
20 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 19%
7 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
#19042 · Core · 40% automatable
Report incidences of child or elder abuse, neglect, or threats of harm to authorities, as required.
decision support — Legal action recommendations need licensed accountability
Recommend legal actions.
#19032 · Core · 42% automatable
Monitor nutrition of children, elderly, or other high-risk groups.
decision support — AI can track intake data but human observes actual eating
Monitor nutrition related activities of individuals or groups.
#19031 · Core · 78% automatable
Maintain updated client records with plans, notes, appropriate forms, or related information.
text generation — Maintain client records; human verifies accuracy
Maintain client records.
#19026 · Core · 35% automatable
Contact clients in person, by phone, or in writing to ensure they have completed required or recommended actions.
interpersonal — Treatment discussions require clinical presence
Monitor clients to evaluate treatment progress. Confer with clients to discuss treatment plans or progress.
#19020 · Core · 50% automatable
Advise clients or community groups on issues related to self-care, such as diabetes management.
interpersonal — Client health advice needs relationship and accountability
Advise clients or community groups on health issues.
#19036 · Core · 55% automatable
Refer community members to needed health services.
decision support — AI can match programs; human handles eligibility nuance
Refer clients to community or social service programs.
#19017 · Core · 50% automatable
Advise clients or community groups on issues related to improving general health, such as diet or exercise.
interpersonal — Client health advice needs relationship and accountability
Advise clients or community groups on health issues.
#19041 · Core · 45% automatable
Develop plans or formal contracts for individuals, families, or community groups to improve overall health.
decision support — Drafts health program plans; stakeholder and epidemiological judgment human
Plan programs to address community health issues.
#19023 · Core · 35% automatable
Advocate for individual or community health needs with government agencies or health service providers.
interpersonal — Advocacy requires relationships and accountability
Advocate for individual or community needs.
#19029 · Core · 55% automatable
Identify the particular health care needs of individuals in a community or target area.
decision support — Needs community engagement and situated judgment
Assess individual or community needs for educational or social services.
#19018 · Core · 50% automatable
Advise clients or community groups on issues related to risk or prevention of conditions, such as lead poisoning, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), prenatal substance abuse, or domestic violence.
interpersonal — Client health advice needs relationship and accountability
Advise clients or community groups on health issues.
#19024 · Core · 30% automatable
Attend community meetings or health fairs to understand community issues or build relationships with community members.
interpersonal — Facilitating program relationships is human networking
Develop working relationships with others to facilitate program activities.
#19035 · Core · 67% automatable
Provide feedback to health service providers regarding improving service accessibility or acceptability.
decision support — Generates improvement options; human tailors and owns
Advise others on ways to improve processes or products. Recommend changes or corrective procedures.
#19027 · Core · 35% automatable
Distribute flyers, brochures, or other informational or educational documents to inform members of a targeted community.
interpersonal — Community outreach and physical material distribution
Provide educational materials to community members.
#19033 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Perform basic diagnostic procedures, such as blood pressure screening, breast cancer screening, or communicable disease screening.
physical manipulation — Basic health care services require hands-on delivery
Provide basic health care services.
#19028 · Supplemental · 57% automatable
Identify or contact members of high-risk or otherwise targeted groups, such as members of minority populations, low-income populations, or pregnant women.
text generation — Health messaging drafted by AI; public delivery human
Confer with clients to exchange information. Communicate health and wellness information to the public. Coordinate with external parties to exchange information.
#19019 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Advise clients or community groups on issues related to sanitation or hygiene, such as flossing or hand washing.
interpersonal — Client health advice needs relationship and accountability
Advise clients or community groups on health issues.
#19016 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Advise clients or community groups on issues related to diagnostic screenings, such as breast cancer screening, pap smears, glaucoma tests, or diabetes screenings.
interpersonal — Client health advice needs relationship and accountability
Advise clients or community groups on health issues.
#19021 · Supplemental · 55% automatable
Advise clients or community groups on issues related to social or intellectual development, such as education, childcare, or problem solving.
interpersonal — Sensitive social advice needs human relationship
Advise others on social or educational issues.
#19025 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Conduct home visits for pregnant women, newborn infants, or other high-risk individuals to monitor their progress or assess their needs.
situated mobility — Physical home visits require human presence
Visit individuals in their homes to provide support or information.
#19037 · Supplemental · 26% automatable
Teach appropriate parenting behaviors to individuals or families.
interpersonal — Teaching life skills to families needs human modeling
Teach life skills or strategies to clients or their families. Teach daily living skills or behaviors. Teach life skills.
#19039 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Assist families to apply for social services, including Medicaid or Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
decision support — Resource navigation aided by AI; human owns case
Help clients get needed services or resources.
#19038 · Supplemental · 35% automatable
Teach classes or otherwise disseminate medical or dental health information to school groups, community groups, or targeted families or individuals, in a manner consistent with cultural norms.
interpersonal — Leading live classes/events requires human presence
Lead classes or community events. Provide educational materials to community members.
#19022 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Advise clients or community groups to ensure parental understanding of the importance of childhood immunizations and how to access immunization services.
interpersonal — Client health advice needs relationship and accountability
Advise clients or community groups on health issues.
#19015 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Administer immunizations or other basic preventive treatments.
physical manipulation — Basic health care services require hands-on delivery
Provide basic health care services.
#19034 · Supplemental · 8% automatable
Provide basic health services, such as first aid.
physical manipulation — Basic health care services require hands-on delivery
Provide basic health care services.
#19040 · Supplemental · 50% automatable
Collect information from individuals to compile vital statistics about the general health of community members.
data analysis — Survey data analysis aided; community engagement human
Collect information about community health needs.
#19030 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Interpret, translate, or provide cultural mediation related to health services or information for community members.
interpersonal — Cultural/religious interpretation needs lived context
Interpret cultural or religious information for others.
#19043 · Supplemental · 5% automatable
Transport or accompany clients to scheduled health appointments or referral sites.
situated mobility — Driving and physically transporting clients
Transport clients to appointments.
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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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