Serves in one of the eight US uniformed services, driving NOAA research ships and flying hurricane hunter planes.
As a junior officer, you might navigate a research ship mapping the seafloor off Alaska, then later train to fly into hurricanes. It's a small service with only a few hundred officers.
Uniformed-service pay plus housing and benefits; rises with rank.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in science, math, or engineering; then NOAA Corps officer training.
Ways in: 4-year college, Military. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Oceanography, Marine Science, Engineering, Meteorology.
Growing about average. BLS does not project this specialty separately; rating estimated from related occupations.
Low risk for 10 years. Driving research ships and flying hurricane hunters is crewed work in a small uniformed service.
Classes: AP Physics, AP Calculus, Earth science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 55-1019.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.