AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Locksmiths and Safe Repairers?

Task-level automation exposure for Locksmiths and Safe Repairers: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Automation Exposure

14% weighted task index

14 of 14 tasks scored

Median Salary

$51,320 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

Low

15,040 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

-11.7% employment change

1,200 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 49 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$27,220 – $76,740

Highest medians

District of Columbia $76,740

Connecticut $69,280

Hawaii $64,490

Delaware $63,640

New York $61,830

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $27,220

Arkansas $35,770

Oklahoma $38,680

New Mexico $41,920

Mississippi $42,940

State figures come from the 49-9094 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 14%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 92%

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 8%

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 24/100 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

14 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) 8%

1 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%

0 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 92%

13 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 →

Emerging & rewritten tasks

Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.

New 08/2025 · Occupational Expert

Read blueprints and project specification manuals to recommend appropriate hardware and electronic locking devices.

Constituent Tasks

#18789 · Core · 10% automatable

Cut new or duplicate keys, using impressions or code key machines.

physical manipulation — Part fabrication requires physical machining and handling

Fabricate parts or components.

#7126 · Core · 10% automatable

Insert new or repaired tumblers into locks to change combinations.

physical manipulation — Manual replacement of mechanical parts

Replace worn, damaged, or defective mechanical parts.

#7127 · Core · 10% automatable

Move picklocks in cylinders to open door locks without keys.

physical manipulation — Disabling locks requires hands-on manipulation

Disable door locks.

#7124 · Core · 8% automatable

Cut new or duplicate keys, using key cutting machines.

physical manipulation — Physical cutting to specifications

Cut materials according to specifications or needs.

#7131 · Core · 12% automatable

Open safe locks by drilling.

physical manipulation — Drilling parts requires physical tool operation

Drill holes in parts, equipment, or materials.

#18790 · Core · 5% automatable

Set up and maintain master key systems.

physical manipulation — Manual fixture adjustment

Set equipment guides, stops, spacers, or other fixtures.

#18791 · Core · 4% automatable

Install door hardware, such as locks and closers.

physical manipulation — Installing interior fixtures is hands-on

Install hardware or other interior fixtures.

#7125 · Core · 80% automatable

Keep records of company locks and keys.

text generation — Document routine operational activities from inputs

Document operational activities.

#7128 · Core · 9% automatable

Disassemble mechanical or electrical locking devices, and repair or replace worn tumblers, springs, and other parts, using hand tools.

physical manipulation — Manual repair of worn mechanical parts

Disassemble equipment for maintenance or repair. Repair worn, damaged, or defective mechanical parts.

#7129 · Core · 10% automatable

Repair and adjust safes, vault doors, and vault components, using hand tools, lathes, drill presses, and welding and acetylene cutting apparatus.

physical manipulation — Structural repair is hands-on physical work

Repair structural components.

#18792 · Core · 4% automatable

Install alarm and electronic access systems.

physical manipulation — Electrical subsystem assembly requires manual dexterity

Assemble electrical components, subsystems, or systems.

#7130 · Core · 4% automatable

Install safes, vault doors, and deposit boxes according to blueprints, using equipment such as power drills, taps, dies, truck cranes, and dollies.

physical manipulation — Installing interior fixtures is hands-on

Install hardware or other interior fixtures.

#18793 · Core · 10% automatable

Unlock cars and other vehicles.

physical manipulation — Disabling locks requires hands-on manipulation

Disable door locks.

#7132 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Remove interior and exterior finishes on safes and vaults, and spray on new finishes.

physical manipulation — Refinishing surfaces is skilled manual labor

Refinish wood or metal surfaces.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

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

See the full method →

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