# Survey Researchers

US SOC code 19-3022. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/19-3022

Also called: Survey research analyst, Survey methodologist, Polling researcher, Survey research manager, Public opinion researcher.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **8,290** US survey researchers, with median pay of **$69,460** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the highest was **24,140**, in May 2006. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pittsburgh_Survey) of **3,000** from 1910, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for survey researchers: Big data and social media analytics, 2015 to 2022.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to decline 4.8% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=19-3022&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **84.4%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Survey Researchers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1880
- Latest US employment: 8,290 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [4]
- Latest US median pay: $69,460 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [6]
- Outlook: -4.8% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [22]

### All 27 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1910 | 3,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [1] |
| 1947 | 8,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., AAPOR [2] |
| 1965 | n/a | $7,200 (estimate) | Est., University of Missouri Libraries [5] |
| 1980 | 18,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [3] |
| 2003 | 16,850 | $24,600 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [4] |
| 2004 | 19,480 | $26,490 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [4] |
| 2005 | 21,650 | $31,140 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [4] |
| 2006 | 24,140 | $33,360 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [4] |
| 2007 | 22,140 | $36,820 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [4] |
| 2008 | 21,100 | $36,220 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [4] |
| 2009 | 20,300 | $35,380 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [4] |
| 2010 | 17,850 | $36,050 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [4] |
| 2011 | 17,060 | $40,150 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [4] |
| 2012 | 17,370 | $45,050 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [4] |
| 2013 | 17,370 | $47,720 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [4] |
| 2014 | 15,410 | $49,760 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [4] |
| 2015 | 13,650 | $53,920 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [4] |
| 2016 | 11,930 | $54,470 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [4] |
| 2017 | 11,270 | $54,270 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [4] |
| 2018 | 11,690 | $57,700 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [4] |
| 2019 | 9,930 | $59,170 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [4] |
| 2020 | 10,350 | $59,870 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [4] |
| 2021 | 8,850 | $59,740 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [4] |
| 2022 | 7,880 | $60,410 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [4] |
| 2023 | 8,190 | $60,960 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [4] |
| 2024 | 7,720 | $63,380 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [4] |
| 2025 | 8,290 | $69,460 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [4] |

## Sources (90)

### Employment series

1. [Wikipedia — The Pittsburgh Survey (Russell Sage Foundation, 1907-08; ~70 investigators; 2,500+ surveys nationally by 1920)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pittsburgh_Survey), Wikipedia / Russell Sage Foundation sources
2. [AAPOR — History: founded 1947 by Gallup, Crossley, and Roper; marks professional institutionalization of the survey research workforce](https://aapor.org/about-us/history/), American Association for Public Opinion Research
3. [Wikipedia — Computer-assisted telephone interviewing: CATI technology used in centralized telephone calling operations; enabled complex branching questionnaires and real-time quota monitoring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-assisted_telephone_interviewing), Wikipedia
4. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

5. [University of Missouri Libraries — Prices and Wages by Decade: 1960-1969 (social science professional salaries, BLS historical references)](https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1960-1969), University of Missouri Libraries / BLS historical sources
6. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
7. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

8. [Wikipedia — The Pittsburgh Survey (1907-08): Russell Sage Foundation, ~70 investigators, structured interview schedules](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pittsburgh_Survey), Wikipedia
9. [Foundation History — Russell Sage Foundation (founded April 19, 1907; funded Pittsburgh Survey and 2,500+ national surveys)](https://www.russellsage.org/about/history), Russell Sage Foundation
10. [Gallup corporate history — George H. Gallup, Founder, 1901-1984: founded American Institute of Public Opinion, Princeton NJ, 1935](https://www.gallup.com/corporate/178136/george-gallup.aspx), Gallup, Inc.
11. [NORC at the University of Chicago — Our History: founded 1941 by Harry Field, moved to University of Chicago 1947](https://www.norc.org/about/who-we-are/norc-history.html), NORC at the University of Chicago
12. [AAPOR — History: founded September 4, 1947 by Gallup, Crossley, and Roper; professional standards and Public Opinion Quarterly established](https://aapor.org/about-us/history/), American Association for Public Opinion Research
13. [Wikipedia — Computer-assisted telephone interviewing: telephone surveying technique with computerized scripts; widespread by mid-1980s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-assisted_telephone_interviewing), Wikipedia
14. [Wikipedia — SurveyMonkey: founded 1999 by Ryan Finley; made online surveys self-service and affordable for non-researchers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SurveyMonkey), Wikipedia
15. [Pew Research Center — Response rates in telephone surveys have resumed their decline (2019)](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/02/27/response-rates-in-telephone-surveys-have-resumed-their-decline/), Pew Research Center
16. [Greenbook.org — The Giant That Was Greenfield Online: founded 1994, pioneered online access panels for commercial research](https://www.greenbook.org/insights/market-research-leaders/the-giant-that-was-greenfield-online), Greenbook.org
17. [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Survey Researchers: decline driven by big data, data mining, and social media analytics reducing demand for traditional survey methods](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/survey-researchers.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
18. [Ipsos Synthesio — Signals GenAI: monitors 800M+ digital sources across 195 countries for consumer intelligence (as supplement/substitute to survey data)](https://www.synthesio.com/), Ipsos Synthesio
19. [AAPOR 2025 Annual Conference — "Reshaping Democracy's Oracle: AI and LLMs reshaping survey research"; theme reflects professional reckoning with AI automation](https://aapor.org/aapor-80th-annual-conference/), American Association for Public Opinion Research
20. [Versta Research — Can You Really Use AI to Create Synthetic Survey Respondents? AI responses show repetitive sequencing, uniform phrasing, undermining validity](https://verstaresearch.com/blog/can-you-really-use-ai-to-create-synthetic-survey-respondents-just-published-academic-research-says-no/), Versta Research
21. [Qualtrics — AI outperforms general LLMs on survey research: Edge Audiences achieves 12x greater accuracy on Likert and attitudinal scales](https://www.qualtrics.com/articles/strategy-research/qualtrics-ai-outperforms-general-use-llms/), Qualtrics

### Forecasts and exposure studies

22. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 19-3022 Survey researchers (2025: 9.8 thousand; 2035: 9.3 thousand; -4.8%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=19-3022&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
23. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 19-3022.00, human-rated β 0.844)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

24. [Wikipedia — The Pittsburgh Survey: Russell Sage Foundation 1907-08; Crystal Eastman, Lewis Hine among investigators](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pittsburgh_Survey), Wikipedia
25. [Pivotal Research — "The Poll that Changed Polling": 1936 US Election, selection bias, and the Gallup vs. Literary Digest comparison](https://www.pivotalresearch.ca/2024/07/03/the-poll-that-changed-polling-selection-bias-and-the-1936-us-election/), Pivotal Research
26. [NORC at the University of Chicago — Our History: founded 1941 by Harry Field in Denver; moved to University of Chicago 1947](https://www.norc.org/about/who-we-are/norc-history.html), NORC at the University of Chicago
27. [AAPOR — History: founded September 4, 1947 by Gallup, Crossley, and Roper; Public Opinion Quarterly became official journal 1948](https://aapor.org/about-us/history/), American Association for Public Opinion Research
28. [Wikipedia — Computer-assisted telephone interviewing: Chilton Research Services 1971 origination; Census Bureau first CATI test 1982](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-assisted_telephone_interviewing), Wikipedia
29. [Wikipedia — SurveyMonkey: founded 1999 by Ryan Finley; made online surveys self-service and accessible to non-researchers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SurveyMonkey), Wikipedia
30. [AAPOR 2025 Annual Conference — conference theme: AI and LLMs reshaping public opinion research and survey methodology standards](https://aapor.org/aapor-80th-annual-conference/), American Association for Public Opinion Research

### Predecessors & successors

31. [Wikipedia — The Pittsburgh Survey: ~70 investigators funded by Russell Sage Foundation; archetype of the professional social survey researcher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pittsburgh_Survey), Wikipedia
32. [Gallup corporate history — George Gallup founded American Institute of Public Opinion, Princeton NJ, 1935](https://www.gallup.com/corporate/178136/george-gallup.aspx), Gallup, Inc.
33. [O\*NET 19-3022.00 — pivot codes include 13-1161.00 Market Research Analysts as primary commercial transition](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-3022.00), O\*NET / BLS
34. [BLS OOH — Survey Researchers: probability sampling design and statistical methodology experience transfers directly to Statistician roles at federal agencies](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/survey-researchers.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Survey Researchers (19-3022.00): tasks, skills, wages, outlook](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-3022.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Survey Researchers: -5% employment decline 2024-2034; 700 openings/yr; median $63,380; AI and big data cited as drivers of decline](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/survey-researchers.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science): LLM exposure by occupation; data collection, coding, and tabulation tasks highly exposed](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Qualtrics — AI Outperforms General-use LLMs on Survey Research: Edge Audiences fine-tuned LLM achieves 12x greater accuracy than GPT/Gemini on synthetic survey data (0.07 vs. 0.87-0.88 SD deviation from human responses)](https://www.qualtrics.com/articles/strategy-research/qualtrics-ai-outperforms-general-use-llms/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [SurveyMonkey — Launches AI Analysis Suite and Design Tools: Genius AI auto-generates surveys from plain-text descriptions, Analyze with AI provides conversational chat-based crosstab analysis, Thematic Analysis (beta) auto-clusters open-ended responses](https://www.surveymonkey.com/newsroom/surveymonkey-launches-ai-analysis-suite-and-design-tools/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Caplena — Unlocking Human-Level Accuracy in Coding Open-Ends with LLMs: F1 score improved from 0.441 to 0.610 (38% gain vs. prior model); open-end coding 95% faster at human-level accuracy](https://caplena.com/en/blog/how-to-build-ai-topic-assignment-with-human-level-accuracy), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Voxpopme — AI Video Survey Analysis: AI-powered analysis delivers qualitative insights 60x faster than manual; automates transcript analysis, theme extraction, and emotional cue coding from video survey responses](https://www.voxpopme.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Ipsos Synthesio — Signals GenAI: 40+ prebuilt GenAI prompts turn social/survey data from 800M sources across 195 countries into actionable insights in under 60 seconds](https://www.synthesio.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Cint — Say hello to Luci, Cint's new AI study companion: AI assistant for sample matching, study setup automation, and real-time respondent qualification across the Lucid Measurement exchange](https://www.cint.com/blog/say-hello-to-luci-cints-new-ai-study-companion/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Versta Research / AAPOR — Can You Really Use AI to Create Synthetic Survey Respondents? Academic research finds structural bias in AI-generated responses: repetitive sequencing, uniform phrasing, superficial personalization undermine construct and external validity](https://verstaresearch.com/blog/can-you-really-use-ai-to-create-synthetic-survey-respondents-just-published-academic-research-says-no/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [AAPOR 2025 Annual Conference — Reshaping Democracy's Oracle: AI and LLMs are reshaping political polling and survey research; AAPOR convening to establish standards and transparency requirements for AI-driven survey insight](https://aapor.org/aapor-80th-annual-conference/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [arxiv 2505.01150 — Methodological Foundations for AI-Driven Survey Question Generation: GPT-4o integrated into Qualtrics generates contextually relevant questions but introduces double-barreled phrasing, redundant structures, and evaluative language requiring human review](https://arxiv.org/html/2505.01150v1), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Fairgen — Synthetic Respondents for Hard-to-Reach Audiences (TechCrunch 2024): first platform offering synthetic respondents with statistical guarantees; Fairboost augments small probability samples with AI-generated synthetic completions for niche segments](https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/09/fairgen-boosts-survey-results-using-synthetic-data-and-ai-generated-responses/), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.