Skilled Trades · SOC 47-2152
Installs and repairs piping and fixtures.
Hands-on, interpersonal or high-stakes work AI struggles to replace.
Timeline: Resilient — varied, physical, on-site problem solving.
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$61,000 median pay
$47,000 median pay
$45,000 median pay
Industry pages show which sectors this occupation feeds and the AI companies driving the shift.
AI job-risk card
Plumber is resilient on AIFear. Hands-on, interpersonal or high-stakes work AI struggles to replace.
AIFear.com
Our AI Fear Score for Plumber is 26/100 (Resilient). Hands-on, interpersonal or high-stakes work AI struggles to replace.
26 out of 100. It blends a Frey & Osborne automation probability of 35% with an estimated LLM task-exposure of 15%.
Most exposed: Quoting and scheduling, Parts lookup. Harder to automate: Diagnosing and fixing on site, Working in tight, unpredictable spaces.
Lean into Licensing, Diagnostics, Business/estimating. Consider roles such as Master plumber or Plumbing contractor.
AI Fear Score blends Frey & Osborne (2013) automation probability with an LLM task-exposure estimate (after Eloundou et al., 2023). Pay/employment are approximate BLS figures. This is an estimate, not a prediction about any individual's job. Compare all occupations.