From military to civilian: Career options with projected fast growth that pay well

Ryan Farrell and Dustin Riles | November 2024

Members of the U.S. military sometimes face uncertainty as they prepare to transition to the civilian workforce. They may have questions such as:

• Which civilian occupation corresponds to my military job?

• Is employment in my potential occupation increasing?

• How much might I expect to earn?

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, around 200,000 servicemembers leave the military each year. Those who transition to employment in the civilian sector may want to find work that uses the experience and skills they gained during their military service.

Fortunately for these jobseekers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides employment projections, wage data, and other information to help ease the military-to-civilian adjustment. In fact, BLS has been creating resources to assist veterans entering the civilian workforce for 75 years: that’s when, and why, the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) got its start.

Each branch of the U.S. military has its own classification system for personnel assignments; these occupation codes include letters, numbers, or both, depending on the branch. For example, the Air Force uses Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSC) consisting of alternating numbers and letters. The Military Occupational Classification (MOC) system gathers the various codes into a single source, which maps to occupations from the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system through the O*NET MOC crosswalk.

This article highlights selected occupations in which employment is projected to grow faster than the 4-percent average for all occupations from 2023 to 2033 and the median annual wage was higher than the $48,060 median wage for all occupations in 2023. The 28 occupations shown in the tables are civilian counterparts to Air Force and Space Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy occupations. For purposes of this article, the occupations are grouped into business and mathematics, computer and information technology, healthcare, and “other” fields.

Keep in mind that the featured occupations are selected. Typically, there are multiple MOC code matches within and across military branches for civilian occupations. For example, every military branch has electricians who acquire skills during their service while installing, maintaining, and troubleshooting equipment. However, the MOC code provided in the table is for Army electricians only; the crosswalk matches to others.

Business and mathematics

For those who enjoy working with numbers, there are many business and financial and math occupations in the military that are comparable to civilian ones. For example, the U.S. Marine Corps occupation of statistics officer corresponds to the civilian occupation statisticians. (See table 1.)

Computer and information technology (IT)

Those who worked on computers or in information technology (IT) during their military service may discover plenty of civilian occupations to which their skills transfer. For example, the U.S. Navy occupation of data base management officer corresponds to the civilian occupation of database administrators. (See table 2.)

Healthcare

Members of the military serve in a variety of healthcare roles, many of which have a civilian equivalent. For example, in the U.S. Navy, ultrasound technologist may correspond with the civilian occupation of diagnostic medical sonographers. (See table 3.)

Other fields

A variety of occupations in other fields—including engineering, management, and production—may be related to military service. For example, the U.S. Coast Guard’s information systems management may correspond with the civilian occupation of computer and information systems managers. (See table 4.)

Ryan Farrell and Dustin Riles, "From military to civilian: Career options with projected fast growth that pay well," Career Outlook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2024.