Hiring a surveying and mapping technician in Tulsa, OK

Employers in the Tulsa, OK area pay surveying and mapping technicians a median of $46,760, with the middle half of the market between $38,820 and $58,830. Tulsa residents working in architecture and engineering occupations report a median of $84,133, which is 80% 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 Tulsa, OK area. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
25th percentile	$38,820
Median	$46,760
75th percentile	$58,830

Half of surveying and mapping technicians in this area earn between $38,820 and $58,830. A band set below $38,820 competes for the bottom quarter of the market.

Place of residence

What Tulsa residents earn

$84,133

Median earnings of Tulsa residents working in architecture and engineering occupations, 4,376 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 80% 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 Tulsa?

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, 33.3% of Tulsa adults hold one. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501.

The average Tulsa commute runs 18.7 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 10.1% already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that.

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 $9,352 to $14,028 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 Tulsa

Tulsa is the 2th largest of 2 Oklahoma cities in this dataset.