Architect
| Median wage (USD) | 99280 |
|---|---|
| Projected employment growth (%) | 4 |
| AI exposure (%) | 43 |
| Maximum exposure (%) | 70 |
| Source | eloundou |
| What AI changes in this occupation | Preparing scale drawings and architectural designs with computer-aided design heads the O*NET profile (99 out of 100), followed by preparing contract documents for building contractors (91), preparing information on design, structure specifications, materials, colour, equipment, estimated costs or construction time (76), creating three-dimensional or interactive representations of designs (71) and preparing operating and maintenance manuals, studies or reports (55) — five of the tasks the profile ranks as most important, and five documentation tasks, hence delegable. Work activities confirm it: drafting, laying out and specifying technical devices, parts and equipment (88 out of 100), working with computers (88), processing information (70), documenting and recording information (69). BLS says it itself: architectural design work "is becoming more efficient due to improved building information modeling (BIM) software and measuring technology along with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI)" — producing the drawings, keeping them consistent and documenting the project now go to the tool. BLS puts the median wage for architects at $99,280 in May 2025 ($47.73 an hour) — under $62,300 for the lowest 10%, over $161,420 for the highest 10% — against $87,950 for the architects, surveyors and cartographers group and $50,980 for all workers. The three industries with the highest median wages are government, excluding state and local education and hospitals ($115,920), architectural, engineering and related services ($98,440) and construction ($95,760). The projection is +4% between 2025 and 2035, "as fast as average", the average being 3%: 124,600 jobs in 2025, 129,900 in 2035, or +5,300, with about 6,900 openings a year, mostly replacing workers who leave. The nuance that matters: the market is narrow (124,600 posts) and gated by licensure — BLS puts the typical entry-level education at a bachelor's degree, with no related work experience and no on-the-job training, but the three required steps are a degree, a paid internship and the Architect Registration Examination, and every state requires a licence; O*NET places the profile in Job Zone Five, "extensive preparation", and 43% of its respondents say a master's degree is required, 39% a bachelor's degree and 13% a post-baccalaureate certificate. The design itself and the accountability that comes with it remain human: planning or designing structures — residences, office buildings, theatres, factories — in accordance with environmental and safety regulations (94 out of 100), meeting clients to review or discuss architectural drawings (93), developing final construction plans with their aesthetic representations (88), conducting periodic on-site observations of construction work to monitor compliance with the plans (85) and consulting clients on the functional and spatial requirements of structures (82) are the tasks the Eloundou study leaves untouched, up to 70% of the occupation at most. The working pattern confirms how relational and site-bound the job is: 100% of O*NET respondents use e-mail every day, 83% the telephone, 61% hold face-to-face discussions daily and 83% work indoors in an environmentally controlled setting, but only 13% are outdoors in all weather every week, 65% sit continually, 57% work more than 40 hours a week and 48% rate accuracy as extremely important. Judgement remains the profile's top-rated skill: critical thinking (81 out of 100), operations analysis — analysing needs and product requirements to create a design (78), complex problem solving (75), speaking (75) and judgment and decision making (72). 22% of respondents rate the job "moderately automated", 48% "slightly automated" and 26% "not at all automated". |
| Key skills | Architectural design: composition, proportions, light, materials, relationship to site · representation and documentation: scale drawing, physical models, building information modeling (BIM, Revit, ArchiCAD), 3D rendering · building regulation: fire codes, accessibility, zoning, permits and approvals · structure, envelope, thermal, acoustic, electrical and mechanical building systems — enough to integrate technical packages into a unified design · sustainable design: passive design, energy performance, life-cycle analysis, certifications (LEED, BREEAM) · project and construction management: cost estimating, tendering, contracts, site supervision, coordination of specialists · law and professional practice: liability, insurance, professional conduct, licensure · communication: listening to the client brief, presenting the project, negotiating with authorities and contractors · generative AI tools for documentation, design options, estimates and specification drafting |
| Courses to get ahead | BIM Application for Engineers · Coursera (National Taiwan University) · 2 weeks at 10 hours a week · 89 · The profile's most important task — preparing scale drawings and architectural designs (99 out of 100) — now plays out inside the digital model, and BLS explicitly credits BIM with the efficiency gain in design work. The course treats the model as an information model: coordination across disciplines, clash detection, quantities, drawing extraction. That is what keeps the architect in charge of documentation as it automates, instead of being on the receiving end of it. Construction Project Management · Coursera (Columbia University) · 3 weeks at 10 hours a week · 88 · Two opposite tasks are worked on together here: preparing contract documents for building contractors (91 out of 100), the most delegable of the management tasks, and periodic on-site observations of construction work to monitor compliance (85), which cannot be delegated. Budget, schedule, tendering, monitoring execution: this is the part of the job where the architect stays accountable for what gets built, not only for what gets drawn. AI For Everyone · Coursera (DeepLearning.AI) · 4 weeks at 2-3 hours a week · 85 · For deciding what is delegated and what is not: the course explains what generative AI can produce — design options, rough estimates, specification drafting, regulatory summaries —, where it gets things wrong, and how to frame a use that does not lose the trail of design decisions. An architect whose occupation is 43% exposed and 70% at most needs to know exactly what goes in their place, and what BLS calls the "new roles" these productivity gains open up. Making Architecture · Coursera (IE School of Architecture and Design) · 1 week at 10 hours a week · 86 Construction Management Specialization · Coursera (Columbia University) · 3 months at 10 hours a week · 87 Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT · Coursera (Vanderbilt University) · 2 weeks at 10 hours a week · 83 |
| Occupations to pivot toward | Landscape Architect · 79870 · 4 · 37 Civil Engineer · 100840 · 6 · 38 Architectural and Engineering Manager · 171270 · 6 · 39 |
| Skills to acquire for the pivot | Eloundou measures the architect's exposure at 43% (human β) and up to 70% (human ζ): preparing scale drawings (99 out of 100), contract documents (91), information on materials, costs and schedules (76), 3D representations (71) and manuals and reports (55) are the O*NET profile's most directly delegable tasks, while planning and designing structures in accordance with environmental and safety regulations (94), meeting clients (93), developing final construction plans (88), observing the site (85) and consulting clients on functional and spatial requirements (82) remain human. Within the repository, 43 puts the architect 51st of the one hundred occupations: fifty occupations have a higher exposure — from the translator (84) to the software developer, the paralegal, the HR manager, the logistician, the DevOps engineer and the software architect (45) —, two are tied with it (the pharmacy technician and the bill collector, 43) and forty-seven have a lower one, the nearest being the graphic designer and the real estate agent (41), then the pharmacist, the project manager and the chemist (40). Its ζ of 70 also places it 51st: fifty occupations have a higher ζ — the HR manager (76), the project manager and the bill collector (75), the administrative services manager (74), the insurance agent and the logistician (73) — and none is tied with it, the nearest below being the psychologist (69), the university professor (68) and the occupational therapist (67). The SOC code used is 17-1011.00 "Architects, Except Landscape and Naval": it is confirmed by the occupation's O*NET profile — exact code and title, updated 2026, Bright Outlook flag, Job Zone Five — and by the Eloundou dataset, which carries a line titled exactly "Architects, Except Landscape and Naval" under that code; the title itself excludes landscape architects, who have their own code (17-1012.00) and their own profile. O*NET files under this profile job titles such as Architect, Architectural Designer, Design Architect, Project Architect, Planner or Specifications Writer: the profile covers a family, not a single post. The GPT-4 self-rated series (β 49, ζ 91) is kept in expositionGpt4 and is not displayed, in line with the decision of 21 August 2026. BLS puts the median wage for architects at $99,280 in May 2025 ($47.73 an hour), $87,950 for the architects, surveyors and cartographers group and $50,980 for all workers; the lowest 10% earn less than $62,300 and the highest 10% more than $161,420. The projection is +4% between 2025 and 2035, "as fast as average", the average being 3%: 124,600 jobs in 2025 are projected to reach 129,900 in 2035 (+5,300), with about 6,900 openings a year, mostly replacing workers who leave. BLS writes that architects will remain needed to design and renovate homes, schools, healthcare facilities and other structures, particularly in sustainable design, and that design work "is becoming more efficient due to improved building information modeling (BIM) software and measuring technology along with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI)" — adding that these productivity gains also allow architects to be more involved in the full building process and to take on new roles and responsibilities. Entry is gated by licensure: a degree, a paid internship and an exam in every state, with a bachelor's degree as the typical threshold according to BLS, while O*NET places the profile in Job Zone Five and 43% of respondents say a master's degree is required. The working setting is office and site: 100% of respondents use e-mail daily, 83% work indoors in an environmentally controlled environment, 61% hold daily face-to-face discussions, 65% spend their time sitting continually and 57% work more than 40 hours a week; 48% rate the job "slightly automated" and 26% "not at all automated". This card's three pivots are neighbouring occupations documented by BLS: the landscape architect ($79,870, +4% between 2025 and 2035, human β 37) and the civil engineer ($100,840, +6%, human β 38) appear in the similar-occupations table on the occupation's page, and the architectural and engineering manager ($171,270, +6%, human β 39) appears there too — BLS presents it explicitly as the path architects take after several years of experience. The median salary shown is $99,280 a year, or $47.73 an hour according to the May 2025 BLS profile. In the repository of one hundred occupations it ranks 29th: twenty-eight occupations pay more, from the physical therapist ($99,710) to the physician ($239,200), and the architect is ahead of the network and computer systems administrator ($99,130), the biologist ($98,920) and the computer programmer ($98,670), while the repository's median salary is $74,600 — the architect sits 33% above it. The +4% growth is exactly the repository median: forty-five occupations grow faster, fourteen at the same rate and forty more slowly. The gap with neighbouring occupations is a few points — the civil engineer pays $100,840, 1.6% more, and the landscape architect $79,870, 20% less — while moving into team and project management (architectural and engineering manager, $171,270) is worth +73%. Progression runs through licensure and the signature — only a licensed architect takes responsibility for the drawings filed —, through command of BIM and the coordination of technical packages, and through the ability to hold the client's brief, the budget and the site, which AI-assisted documentation does not replace. Every value on this card comes from a named source; only the task shares, derived from O*NET importance scores, and the course scores and durations are editorial estimates, documented in _ponderation. |
| GPT-4 exposure — beta / zeta (%) | 49 · 91 |