Career
Captains, mates, and pilots of water vessels
Command and navigate ships.
$92,460
Median pay
+4.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
3,800
Openings a year
Postsecondary nondegree award
Typical education
Under 2 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Direct courses and speeds of ships, based on specialized knowledge of local winds, weather, water depths, tides, currents, and hazards.
- Prevent ships under navigational control from engaging in unsafe operations.
- Serve as a vessel's docking master upon arrival at a port or at a berth.
- Consult maps, charts, weather reports, or navigation equipment to determine and direct ship movements.
- Steer and operate vessels, using radios, depth finders, radars, lights, buoys, or lighthouses.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Direct courses and speeds of ships, based on specialized knowledge of local winds, weather, water depths, tides, currents, and hazards.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operation and Control, Speaking, Monitoring, Operations Monitoring.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
Under 2 years of education after high school (postsecondary nondegree award), for a median of $92,460 a year and 3,800 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Commercial FishingCIP 49.0303
- Marine Science/Merchant Marine OfficerCIP 49.0309
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Sailors and Marine Oilers$51,520 · +3.2%
- Motorboat Operators$47,520 · +4.9%
- Ship Engineers$109,530 · +2.7%
- Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers$232,140 · +8.3%
- Commercial Pilots$123,220 · +5.2%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.