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 Pest Control Workers?
Task-level automation exposure for Pest Control Workers: 14 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
35%
weighted task index
14 of 14 tasks scored
Median Salary
$45,250 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
High
102,620 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+5.5%
employment change
13,700 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 53 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$23,410 – $51,300
Highest medians
Washington $51,300
South Dakota $49,920
Nevada $49,240
Connecticut $49,010
New Jersey $48,780
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $23,410
Guam $28,340
Virgin Islands $36,330
New Mexico $37,070
Mississippi $37,200
State figures come from the 37-2021 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 35%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 49%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 17%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 11%
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 20/100
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) 36%
4 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%
0 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 64%
10 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 08/2026 · Incumbent
Monitor inventory of chemicals and supplies.
Constituent Tasks
#7974 · Core · 85% automatable
Record work activities performed.
data analysis — Log work hours and activities into systems
Document work hours or activities.
#7977 · Core · 10% automatable
Clean work site after completion of job.
physical manipulation — Facility cleaning requires physical manipulation
Clean facilities or sites.
#20760 · Core · 65% automatable
Measure area dimensions requiring treatment, calculate fumigant requirements, and estimate cost for service.
data analysis — Maintenance cost estimation from specs
Estimate maintenance service requirements or costs.
#7976 · Core · 10% automatable
Spray or dust chemical solutions, powders, or gases into rooms, onto clothing, furnishings, or wood, or over marshlands, ditches, or catch basins.
physical manipulation — Treating greenery is physical application work
Treat greenery or surfaces with protective substances.
#20759 · Core · 60% automatable
Recommend treatment and prevention methods for pest problems to clients.
decision support — Product recommendations need customer context and persuasion
Recommend products or services to customers.
#7975 · Core · 20% automatable
Inspect premises to identify infestation source and extent of damage to property, wall, or roof porosity and access to infested locations.
visual inspection — Grounds/building condition assessment is physical
Inspect buildings or grounds to determine condition.
#7979 · Core · 10% automatable
Drive truck equipped with power spraying equipment.
situated mobility — Driving vehicles at work sites is situated mobility
Drive trucks or other vehicles to or at work sites.
#7978 · Core · 30% automatable
Direct, or assist other workers in, treatment or extermination processes to eliminate or control rodents, insects, or weeds.
interpersonal — Supervising maintenance workers is live, accountable leadership
Supervise maintenance workers.
#7983 · Core · 74% automatable
Study preliminary reports or diagrams of infested area and determine treatment type required to eliminate and prevent recurrence of infestation.
data analysis — Evaluate reports and designs, human owns decisions
Evaluate reports or designs to determine work needs.
#7982 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Cut or bore openings in building or surrounding concrete, access infested areas, insert nozzle, and inject pesticide to impregnate ground.
physical manipulation — Pest treatment requires applying chemicals in the field
Treat facilities to eliminate pests.
#7981 · Supplemental · 31% automatable
Post warning signs and lock building doors to secure area to be fumigated.
interpersonal — Emergency notification needs live accountable delivery
Block physical access to restricted areas. Notify others of emergencies, problems, or hazards.
#7985 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Set mechanical traps, or place poisonous paste or bait in sewers, burrows, or ditches.
physical manipulation — Pest treatment requires applying chemicals in the field
Treat facilities to eliminate pests.
#7986 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Clean and remove blockages from infested areas to facilitate spraying procedures and provide drainage, using brooms, mops, shovels, or rakes.
physical manipulation — Pest treatment requires applying chemicals in the field
Treat facilities to eliminate pests.
#7987 · Supplemental · 11% automatable
Position and fasten edges of tarpaulins over building, and tape vents to ensure air-tight environment and to check for leaks.
visual inspection — Installation inspection requires on-site physical check
Inspect completed work to ensure proper installation. Apply protective coverings to objects or surfaces near work areas. Position safety or support equipment.
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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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