What does it cost to hire a surveying and mapping technician in San Jose?

Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $76,560 median wage in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $15,312 to $22,968 on the first year salary alone.

What should an offer for a surveying and mapping technician in San Jose look like?

Employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area pay surveying and mapping technicians a median of $76,560, with the middle half of the market between $64,190 and $100,530 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $64,190 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.

Hiring a surveying and mapping technician in San Jose, CA

Employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area pay surveying and mapping technicians a median of $76,560 a year, with the middle half of the market between $64,190 and $100,530 (BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 17-3031). Filling it through recruitlocalpros runs Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role rather than by salary or location, and our vetted recruiting partner handles sourcing, screening and placement end to end.

Do San Jose residents in architecture and engineering work earn more than employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area pay?

San Jose residents working in architecture and engineering occupations earn a median of $150,745 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $118,535 as the median of the 28 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 27%, with the residents figure the higher of the two.

Both sides of that figure describe the whole architecture and engineering group, not this one role. In the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area the group covers 28 occupations BLS publishes a wage for, from surveying and mapping technicians at $76,560 to computer hardware engineers at $209,860 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).

That comparison is between two different measures, not a pay gap. The two weight the same occupation group differently: the Census figure is the midpoint across the people who actually hold those jobs, so a group carrying a few very well paid occupations is pulled toward them, while the BLS figure is the midpoint across the 28 published occupation wages, which counts each of those occupations once whatever its headcount. Census also counts where people live and BLS counts where the jobs are, and the two cover different populations, Census the civilian employed population 16 and over, BLS wage-and-salary jobs only. Read the number against other cities, where the same definitional difference applies on both sides, rather than as a shortfall.

Residents here out-earn the midpoint of what the metro pays across this group, which usually points to people commuting out to better-paying employers. Expect a San Jose offer in this field to compete with a drive, not only with the firm down the road.

What does a surveying and mapping technician earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid to surveying and mapping technicians by employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area. BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 17-3031.
25th percentile	$64,190
Median	$76,560
75th percentile	$100,530

Half of surveying and mapping technicians in this area earn between $64,190 and $100,530 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $64,190 competes for the bottom quarter of the market. Occupation detail for SOC 17-3031 at O*NET OnLine.

Place of residence

What San Jose residents earn

$150,745

Median annual earnings of San Jose residents working in architecture and engineering occupations, 38,454 people (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011). An occupation group rather than this one role, and where people live rather than where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

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.

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

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.

Flagged in demand or hot for SOC 17-3031 by O*NET OnLine 29.1. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in San Jose?

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. O*NET OnLine, SOC 17-3031.

It does not require a degree, which widens the pool considerably. For context, 46.5% of San Jose adults hold one. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501, residents of San Jose aged 25 and over.

The average San Jose commute runs 28.1 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 18.5% of San Jose workers already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that. Census ACS 5-year 2023, place-level commuting characteristics for San Jose.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In Santa Clara County, architectural, engineering and related services employs 15,027 and turns over 6.4% a quarter, with 984 hires against 1,222 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $17,601 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 $76,560 median in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would bill roughly $15,312 to $22,968 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.

Questions employers ask about hiring a surveying and mapping technician in San Jose

What does it cost to hire a surveying and mapping technician in San Jose?: Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $76,560 median wage in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $15,312 to $22,968 on the first year salary alone.
What should an offer for a surveying and mapping technician in San Jose look like?: Employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area pay surveying and mapping technicians a median of $76,560, with the middle half of the market between $64,190 and $100,530 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $64,190 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.
Do San Jose residents in architecture and engineering work earn more than employers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area pay?: San Jose residents working in architecture and engineering occupations earn a median of $150,745 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $118,535 as the median of the 28 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 27%. Both figures cover the whole occupation group rather than this one role, and one counts where people live while the other counts where the jobs are, so the percentage is not a pay gap.
Is the talent for this role already in San Jose?: This is a job zone 3 occupation and does not require a degree, which widens the pool considerably. For context, 46.5% of San Jose adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher (Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501).

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 San Jose

San Jose is the 3rd largest of 21 California cities in this dataset.