Also called: Transit CEO, Executive Director (Transit Authority)
Leads a city or regional public transit agency with buses, trains, and thousands of employees.
You meet with the mayor about funding, approve a plan to electrify the bus fleet, and talk with union leaders about safety. When a subway line breaks down at rush hour, you're explaining it to reporters by evening.
Estimated; small-city agencies pay far less than New York, LA, or Chicago.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 15 years after high school. Usually a bachelor's plus master's in public administration, planning, or engineering, and decades of transit leadership.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, On-the-job training. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Public Administration, Urban Planning, Civil Engineering.
Growing about average. Few positions.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps with ridership forecasts and budgets; leading thousands of workers and handling politics stay human.
Classes: Government, Economics, Speech.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-1021.
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.