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Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels vs Locomotive Engineers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels and Locomotive Engineers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels Locomotive Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$85,540
$77,400
Employment · BLS OEWS
35,390
31,990
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
42nd pct
34th pct

At a glance

Dimension Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels Locomotive Engineers
Median pay $85,540 $77,400
Employment 35,390 31,990
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+0.5%) About average (+0.7%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 4,300 2,200
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 42nd pct Moderate · 34th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 55th pct · 29% of tasks 33rd pct · 20% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Transportation, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Public Safety and Security, Problem Sensitivity, Deductive Reasoning, Spatial Orientation, Far Vision, Operation and Control, Written Comprehension, Control Precision, Near Vision, Speech Clarity, Speaking, Monitoring, Inductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Perceptual Speed, Speech Recognition, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Operations Monitoring, Judgment and Decision Making, Flexibility of Closure, Manual Dexterity, Depth Perception, English Language, Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, Selective Attention, Time Sharing.

Specific to Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels

  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Mechanical
  • Written Expression
  • Law and Government
  • Geography
  • Coordination
  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • Category Flexibility

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

  • Response Orientation
  • Reaction Time
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Rate Control
  • Auditory Attention
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Education and Training
  • Active Learning

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Word processing software , Route navigation software .

Specific to Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels

Specific to Locomotive Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels or Locomotive Engineers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels vs Locomotive Engineers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels-vs-locomotive-engineers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels vs Locomotive Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels-vs-locomotive-engineers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels-vs-locomotive-engineers,
  title  = {Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels vs Locomotive Engineers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/captains-mates-and-pilots-of-water-vessels-vs-locomotive-engineers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.