Will AI replace environmental economists?

Unlikely, though parts of the work are changing. About 1h 47m of an 8-hour shift goes to tasks touched by AI working on its own. The other 6h 13m (78%) stays with people. Separately, BLS expects about 4.7% more of these jobs by 2035 (all jobs: +3.5%).

AI shows up regularly in 2 of 20 tasks, about 1h 47m of a typical shift. The biggest ones:

• Write technical documents or academic articles to communicate study results or economic forecasts. (1h 11m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)
• Develop economic models, forecasts, or scenarios to predict future economic and environmental outcomes. (36m a shift, AI mostly does it alone)

6h 13m of a typical shift, or 78%, goes to tasks with no AI or robot evidence yet. No AI usage or robot deployment has shown up for these so far. The biggest:

• Assess the costs and benefits of various activities, policies, or regulations that affect the environment or natural resource stocks. (47m a shift)
• Conduct research on economic and environmental topics, such as alternative fuel use, public and private land use, soil conservation, air and water pollution control, and endangered species protection. (41m a shift)
• Collect and analyze data to compare the environmental implications of economic policy or practice alternatives. (41m a shift)
• Prepare and deliver presentations to communicate economic and environmental study results, to present policy recommendations, or to raise awareness of environmental consequences. (30m a shift)
• Develop programs or policy recommendations to achieve environmental goals in cost-effective ways. (24m a shift)

On Indeed, job postings in the Social Science sector are at 126% of their February 2020 level (all U.S. postings: 104%), down 6.7% from a year earlier, as of Oct 9, 2026. BLS separately expects about 1,100 openings a year in this job through 2035. Across all U.S. postings, 7.3% now mention AI skills. Sector postings cover more than this one job and move for many reasons besides AI.

The median pay is about $124,720 a year ($59.96 an hour), 145% above the median for all U.S. jobs ($50,980). Most people in this job earn between $67,360 and $238,060 a year; that range covers the middle 80%. Pay figures are from BLS, May 2025, and vary a lot by state and employer. Pick a state to compare:

BLS projects growth of 4.7% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3.5% growth for all jobs. That's about 20,000 jobs in 2035. It expects about 1,100 openings a year, mostly from people retiring or changing careers. These projections don't single out AI as a cause.

About 18,000 people in the U.S., roughly 0.01% of all workers (BLS, May 2025). That makes it the 571st largest of the 796 jobs on this site. BLS expects about 20,000 in 2035.

The most common requirement is a doctoral degree: about 44% of people in the job said so in the official O*NET survey. O*NET rates the job at level 5 of 5 for preparation, which usually means: graduate degree. Requirements vary by state and employer, especially for licensed work.

These come from the job's official skill ratings and from the tasks that AI and robots touch least today. Building them keeps you strong in the parts of the work that still need a person:

• Skills that matter more here than in most jobs: Management of Financial Resources, Mathematics, Writing, Active Learning
• Get strong at the parts of the job that stay with people (listed above), which take 6h 13m of a typical shift
• Tools employers list: C, C#, C++, ESRI ArcGIS software, IBM SPSS Statistics
• Learn to use AI well on the tasks where it already shows up in this job (listed above)

These use similar skills, with less of a typical shift touched by AI or robots. Matches come from 109 official ratings of skills, knowledge and work activities, and each needs the same or less preparation unless the official list relates the jobs directly:

• Climate Change Policy Analysts (0m touched, $82k median pay)
• Industrial Ecologists (6m touched, $82k median pay)

Each task carries its own evidence label. For this job: 2 observed in real AI use, 18 with no AI or robot evidence found. The minutes per task are estimates, not measured hours, and "no evidence" doesn't prove a task is safe.