Hiring a surveying and mapping technician in Columbus, OH

Employers in the Columbus, OH area pay surveying and mapping technicians a median of $60,330, with the middle half of the market between $48,210 and $70,540. Columbus residents working in architecture and engineering occupations report a median of $81,558, which is 35% above what the metro pays for this role.

What does a surveying and mapping technician earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid by employers in the Columbus, OH area. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
25th percentile	$48,210
Median	$60,330
75th percentile	$70,540

Half of surveying and mapping technicians in this area earn between $48,210 and $70,540. A band set below $48,210 competes for the bottom quarter of the market.

Place of residence

What Columbus residents earn

$81,558

Median earnings of Columbus residents working in architecture and engineering occupations, 8,810 people. Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011. Where people live, not where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

The 35% figure is not a pay gap. ACS counts the civilian employed population 16 and over, part-time and part-year work included; OEWS counts wage-and-salary jobs only. The two populations differ, so read this number against other cities rather than as a shortfall: the same definitional difference applies to every city equally, which is what makes a city-to-city reading sound.

Residents here already earn more than this role pays, so your offer is competing with whatever they currently commute to.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

Position and hold the vertical rods, or targets, that theodolite operators use for sighting to measure angles, distances, and elevations.
Check all layers of maps to ensure accuracy, identifying and marking errors and making corrections.
Design or develop information databases that include geographic or topographic data.
Monitor mapping work or the updating of maps to ensure accuracy, inclusion of new or changed information, or compliance with rules and regulations.
Produce or update overlay maps to show information boundaries, water locations, or topographic features on various base maps or at different scales.

O*NET 29.1, task statements for SOC 17-3031.

Tools and technologies in demand

Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D, Bentley MicroStation, ESRI ArcGIS software, Geographic information system GIS systems, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook.

O*NET 29.1, flagged in demand or hot for this occupation. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in Columbus?

This is a job zone three: medium preparation needed occupation. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

It does not require a degree, which widens the pool considerably. For context, 38.2% of Columbus adults hold one. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501.

The average Columbus commute runs 21.8 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 16.1% already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In Delaware County, architectural, engineering and related services employs 857 and turns over 5.5% a quarter, with 71 hires against 67 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $7,837 a month. Census LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators, 2024 Q1, NAICS 5413.

That figure covers every occupation in the industry, not this role alone, so read it as the local churn rate rather than as a number about surveying and mapping technicians. It still tells you what you are hiring into: a low-churn market, where people do not move often and passive candidates are the whole game.

What does the search cost?

The fee is set by the seniority of the role, never by salary and never by location. Across all six tiers it runs $6,240 to $54,340 per search. A contingency firm hiring at this role's median would bill roughly $12,066 to $18,099 on the first year salary alone.

One owner runs the search from market map to signed offer. Searches typically fill in 23 to 35 days, which is a typical window rather than a promise, and the replacement guarantee runs 45 days at 50% off.

Price this search

Eight questions about the role. Your tier range appears on screen.

Hiring a surveying and mapping technician somewhere else?

Same role, different market. The wage band moves with the metro.

Other architecture and engineering roles in Columbus

Columbus is the largest of 4 Ohio cities in this dataset.