Rail transportation

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Workforce

175k

2019 BLS Estimate

Average Employee Age

43.2

Estimated Job Growth

−4.53%

10-Year Projection

Average Salary

$78,031

Average Male Salary

$78,085

Average Female Salary

$75,892

About

The top three occupations in the Rail transportation Industry Group are Railroad conductors & yardmasters, Locomotive engineers & operators, Heavy vehicle & mobile equipment service technicians & mechanics, Subway, streetcar, & other rail transportation workers, and Supervisors of transportation & material moving workers. On average, full-time employees in the Rail transportation Industry Group work 47 hours per week and have an average annual salary of $79,371. Part-time employees in the same industry work 21.3 hours and earn an average annual salary of $27,662.

The locations with the highest concentration of employees in the Rail transportation Industry Group are Southwest Nebraska PUMA, NE, North Central & Northwest Nebraska PUMA, NE, and Omaha City (Southwest) PUMA, NE. The industry that purchases the most products or services from the Hospitals Industry Group is Rail transportation.

Transportation & Warehousing Transportation & Warehousing, and Utilities

Workforce

A snapshot of jobs, wages, and opportunities in the Rail transportation Industry Group. Railroad conductors & yardmasters are the most common position, but the Rail transportation Industry Group employs a relatively high number of Locomotive engineers & operators, compared to other industries.

The highest average salary in Rail transportation goes to Chief executives & legislators.

Monthly Employment

Start Year

Y-Axis

−1.79%

Year-over-year decline

Employment change between May 2020 and May 2021

As of May 2021, there are 11k people employed in the Rail Transportation industry. This represents a −1.79% decrease in employment when compared to May 2020.

This chart shows monthly employment numbers for Rail Transportation over time (non-seasonally adjusted).

Occupations

Occupations by Share

175k

Workforce (BLS Estimate)

ACS Estimate: 247k

2.84%

1 Year Growth

± 6.84%

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there were 175k people employed in the Rail transportation Industry Group in 2019.

According to ACS estimates, the number of people employed in the Rail transportation Industry Group has been growing at a rate of 2.84%, , from 240k people in 2018 to 247k people in 2019.

The following graphic shows the share of employment in Rail transportation by various occupations according to ACS estimates. Railroad conductors & yardmasters represent the largest share of positions held in Rail transportation at 17%, followed by Locomotive engineers & operators with 16.5% and Heavy vehicle & mobile equipment service technicians & mechanics with 6.68%.

Wages

Average Salary

$78,031

AVERAGE WAGE

± $2,205

On average, employees in the Rail transportation Industry Group make $78,031 per year. This number makes Rail transportation the 44 highest paying Industry Group in the United States out of a total of 269 Industry Groups.

Wage by Location

HIGHEST PAYING PUBLIC USE MICRODATA AREA

HIGHEST PAYING PUMAS

This map shows which public use microdata areas (PUMAs) pay the highest average salary to employees in the Rail transportation Industry Group.

Wage Distribution

0.264

WAGE GINI

Rail transportation has a wage GINI of 0.264, which is less than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed more evenly in Rail transportation (shown in red) in comparison to the national average for those wage buckets (shown in gray).

Opportunities

Spatial Concentration

Public Use Microdata Areas with RCA

This map shows the PUMAs in the United States that have revealed comparative advantage in the Rail transportation Industry Group.

These are locations that employ more people in the Rail transportation Industry Group than expected given both the size of that location's overall labor pool and the national size of the Rail transportation Industry Group.

Diversity

Demographic information on the Rail transportation Industry Group in the US. Male employees tend to earn more than Female employees, with average respective salaries of $78,085 and $75,892. So too tend to earn more than other races and ethnicities in this industry.

Gender Composition

19.7k

FEMALE WORKFORCE

±3.45k

227k

MALE WORKFORCE

±11.7k

92% of workers in the Rail transportation Industry Group are Male, making them the more common gender in the workforce. This chart shows the gender breakdown of the Rail transportation Industry Group.

Wage by Gender in Common Jobs

$78,085

AVERAGE MALE SALARY

±$2,098

$75,892

AVERAGE FEMALE SALARY

±$2,281

On average, Male workers in the Rail transportation Industry Group make 1.03 times more than their Female counterparts. This chart shows the gender-based wage disparity in the 5 most common occupations in the Rail transportation Industry Group.

Wage by Race & Ethnicity in Common Jobs

RACE OR ETHNICITY WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SALARY

Asian
White
Other

On average, Asian employees in the Rail transportation Industry Group earn 1.28 times more than other races and ethnicities. This chart shows the race and ethnicity-based wage disparities in the 5 most common occupations in the Rail transportation Industry Group.

Input/Output

Estimates of the sources of the costs and the purchasers of the products in the Rail transportation Industry Group. Based on estimates from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, this section indicates the amount of money spent by a specific industry in other industries. Transportation and warehousing has the highest single input, by dollars, to the Rail transportation Industry Group, and the largest industry purchasing services from the Rail transportation Industry Group is Manufacturing.

In this flow diagram, all of the industries listed to the left are those places from which the highlighted industry has made purchases. They are the intermediate inputs to the highlighted industry. All those industries listed on the right side are those industries that have made purchases from the highlighted industry. They are the use of outputs of the highlighted industry. The visualizations below offer alternative ways to see and understand this data.

Industrial Flow

The closest comparable data for Rail transportation is from Transportation & Warehousing, and Utilities.

Intermediate Inputs

The closest comparable data for Rail transportation is from Transportation & Warehousing, and Utilities.

HIGHEST INPUT INDUSTRY

The Rail transportation Industry Group gets the most input, by its share of the cost of all intermediate inputs, from the Transportation and warehousing Industry. This visualization does not include labor and capital costs.

Use of Output by Other Industries

The closest comparable data for Rail transportation is from Transportation & Warehousing, and Utilities.

LARGEST PURCHASING INDUSTRY

The Manufacturing Industry purchases the greatest share of products and services from the Rail transportation Industry Group in order to produce other goods and services. Purchases of the Rail transportation Industry Group for final consumption by consumers, businesses, or government are not included here.

Projections

Growth projections of the Rail transportation industry, both by number of employees and output, from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The national workforce is projected to grow 7.66% in the next ten years. The Rail transportation industry has a lower projected workforce growth at −4.53%. Its projected 10-year growth in output (13.9%) is lower than the projected national growth in output (24.2%).

Job Growth

−4.53%

Estimated Job Growth

10-year Projection

7.66%

National Growth

10-year Projection

This line chart shows the projected 10-year growth in the number of jobs for Rail transportation. This industry is expected to grow less than than 7.66%, the average rate of national job growth.