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Sociologists

Life, Physical, and Social Science · SOC 19-3041

38.3% AI Exposure — Very High
$106,030
Median Annual Salary
Bright ↗
O*NET Outlook
400
Proj. Annual Openings
2,260
Employment (OEWS 2025)
-2.5%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
62/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 19-3041 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
38.3%
Very High · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
53/100
Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$106,030
H-1B offered wage $82,250; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
400
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change +3.6%.
Observed/proxy demand
76
FY2025 certified LCAs; 689 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

Active ListeningSpeakingReading ComprehensionWritingCritical Thinking
  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

Best transitions from here

Explore all pathways

Lower AI-exposure roles that reuse your skills, ranked by a transition score (skills that transfer, safety gain, pay and retraining effort).

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure38.3%
AI Resiliency62/100
Exposure BandVery High
Sector Avg. Exposure9.7%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

63.1%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic38.3%
AI capability · OpenAI53.8%
AI ability · AIOE97.2%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne5.9%

AI could do ~53.8% of this role but only ~38.3% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Active Listening
2.Speaking
3.Reading Comprehension
4.Writing
5.Critical Thinking

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.

821
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
76
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$82,250
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#194 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Study human society and social behavior by examining the groups and social institutions that people form, as well as various social, religious, political, and business organizations. May study the behavior and interaction of groups, trace their origin and growth, and analyze the influence of group activities on individual members.

Common titles: Demographer, Evaluation Specialist, Medical Sociologist, Policy Analyst, Research Associate, Research Coordinator

Representative Tasks

  • Analyze and interpret data to increase the understanding of human social behavior.
  • Prepare publications and reports containing research findings.
  • Develop, implement, and evaluate methods of data collection, such as questionnaires or interviews.
  • Collect data about the attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in groups, using observation, interviews, and review of documents.
  • Teach sociology.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Conduct research on social issues.
  • Interpret research or operational data.
  • Prepare scientific or technical reports or presentations.
  • Collect information from people through observation, interviews, or surveys.
  • Develop methods of social or economic research.

Tools & Technologies

Facebook · hotIBM SPSS Statistics · hotMicrosoft Access · hotMicrosoft Outlook · hotMicrosoft PowerPoint · hotSAS · hotAdobe DreamweaverEmail softwareQSR International NVivoQualtrics Research Suite

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

15
Occupations Shown
12.1%
Avg AI Exposure
8
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 19-3041: 2019 — employment: 2,630, median wage: $83,420; 2020 — employment: 2,470, median wage: $86,110; 2021 — employment: 2,640, median wage: $92,910; 2022 — employment: 2,980, median wage: $98,590; 2023 — employment: 2,890, median wage: $101,770; 2025 — employment: 2,260, median wage: $106,030.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure38.3%9.7%
OutlookBright ↗37% Bright
Median Salary$106,030N/A
AI Resiliency62/100N/A