The ship captain who measures the vessel, not only runs it
$348,100top of the range in California · middle $92,460 / yr
AI augments this role
Ship Captains in the United States earn a median of $92,460 a year. Pay starts near $47,420. Pay reaches $348,100 at the top of the range in California, the best-paying state for this work among those with at least 500 people in the job.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels, SOC 53-5021). Last checked 9 September 2026.
Entry level
$47,420
Top of the range · California
$348,100
Education
Maritime academy degree
Wages — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels). Top of the range is the highest state-level figure among states with at least 500 people in the job. AI-impact rating is PayCrunch's editorial assessment. Updated September 2026.
🆕 New & Trending AI Tools for Ship CaptainReviewed September 2026
We track new AI-tool launches every week and refresh this list — here’s what’s gaining traction for Ship Captain work right now.
Numeo AINEWPaid / see site
AI dispatch platform that matches loads and plans routes for trucking.
How a Ship Captain uses it: let AI find better loads and build the most efficient route/schedule
DAT iQNEWPaid / see site
Freight market intelligence with AI rate forecasting and lane analytics.
How a Ship Captain uses it: price a load right and pick profitable lanes with live market data
NetradyneNEWFleet / see site
AI-powered dashcam that coaches driving and rewards safe behavior.
How a Ship Captain uses it: get instant in-cab coaching and build a safety record that protects your CDL
NotebookLMNEWFree / $7.99 mo
Google tool that answers questions grounded only in the documents you give it — with citations.
How a Ship Captain uses it: load your own manuals, policies, or PDFs and ask questions that stay accurate to the source
Motive~$89/vehicle mo
Driver app with AI safety alerts, fuel and route insights (formerly KeepTruckin).
How a Ship Captain uses it: get real-time safety and fuel coaching and cut idle time on the road
Samsara~$99/vehicle mo
Connected-fleet platform with AI dash cams, routing, and maintenance alerts.
How a Ship Captain uses it: use AI dashcam coaching and predictive maintenance to stay safe and avoid breakdowns
Route4MePaid / see site
Route optimization that sequences multi-stop trips across 200+ variables.
How a Ship Captain uses it: turn a list of stops into the fastest, fuel-smart route in seconds
ChatGPTFree / $20 mo
The most-used AI assistant — writing, analysis, research, and images from a plain-language chat.
How a Ship Captain uses it: draft emails and documents, summarize long files, and get instant answers to on-the-job questions
ClaudeFree / $20 mo
AI assistant known for careful writing, long-document analysis, and coding.
How a Ship Captain uses it: analyze big reports or spreadsheets and turn messy notes into clean, finished writing
The person the vessel is entrusted to
A ship captain is the master of a vessel. The company owns the ship. The master is the person on board who answers for the crew, the cargo, and the voyage as a working operation. That can be a harbor tug, a ferry, an inland tow, an offshore supply vessel, or a cargo ship on a coastwise or ocean run. The title changes with the company. The responsibility is the same shape: people look to the master when a port call, a crew problem, or a company message has to be decided.
The day is a chain of watches, paperwork, and port. Mates stand the watches. The master sets the routine, reviews what the mates report, and deals with the company, the agent, and the charterer when the ship is working cargo or waiting on a berth. In port there are stores, crew changes, inspections the port requires, and a sailing time that slips. At sea the master is available when the watch needs a decision that belongs above the mate. None of this is a performance. It is a long stretch of attention, much of it ordinary, with a few moments that are not.
Life aboard is the career's real cost. Rotations can be weeks on and weeks off, or a hitch that keeps you away from home through holidays. Ferries and harbor tugs may sleep at home. Ocean and inland towing often do not. Anyone choosing this path should talk to working masters about the schedule before talking about the wage. The wage is public. The rotation is how the wage is actually lived.
A licence, and why it is a mariner credential
The path to this job is a licence, and in this trade that licence is a mariner credential. The document Americans carry is the Merchant Mariner Credential, with an officer endorsement that authorizes service as master within the limits printed on it. Those limits cover the route and the kind of vessel. A credential for an inland tug is not the same endorsement as a credential for an ocean ship, even though both people are called captain on their own decks. Read the endorsement. The word captain on a business card does not enlarge it.
What the credential proves is specific. The Coast Guard has found that this mariner may lawfully serve in the capacity named. Companies and port states ask for it because the alternative is a ship with nobody legally entitled to be master. It also proves a history: sea service that was documented, training that was accepted, and an application that was granted. It does not prove you will be a good manager of people. That part shows up in the references and in the way a crew talks about you after a hitch.
Keep the credential, the medical certificate that rides with it, and the endorsements in one folder. Renewals and medical checks are part of staying employable. A master who lets the paper lapse sits at home while the boat sails with someone else. Track the dates yourself. Do not rely on a company clerk to be your only reminder, even if the company is helpful. The credential is yours, and so is the gap in employment if it expires.
Who grants it
The United States Coast Guard grants the mariner credential through the National Maritime Center. That office evaluates sea service, training, and the application, then issues the credential and the endorsements. It is a federal licence path, not a state occupational board and not a union card. A union may dispatch you. A company may hire you. Neither one can invent an endorsement the Coast Guard did not print on the credential. The place to start reading is the National Maritime Center.
Mates hold credentials too, with endorsements at mate level. The step from mate to master is another grant from the same office, after you have the service and training that endorsement requires. Pilots who guide ships in specific harbors are a different role again, often with a state pilot appointment on top of federal mariner papers. If your goal is master of a company vessel, say master. If your goal is a harbor pilot commission, say that, and expect a separate selection. The two careers share a waterfront and do not share a single door.
When you write to the National Maritime Center, use their terms. Name the endorsement you are seeking and the route. Send sea service letters that show vessel, dates, and the capacity you served in. Vague letters get sent back, and a delay can cost a hitch. Companies know this. A candidate who already understands how the center reads sea time looks safer than a candidate who thinks the licence is a formality after the interview.
Preparing for that credential
People prepare in two respected ways. One is a maritime academy, where sea time is built into the program and the graduate leaves with a path toward a mate's endorsement. The other is coming up through the deck: ordinary seaman, able seaman, then mate, then master, with sea service documented at each step. Both paths end at the same office. Academy graduates still need the credential. Deck sailors still need the training the Coast Guard accepts. Neither path is a rumor you can skip because a captain likes you.
Preparation on the job is the part nobody can fake. You learn how a watch is organized, how a port call is sequenced, how cargo figures are checked against the documents, and how a crew problem is handled before it becomes a company problem. You learn the paperwork that proves sea time, because undocumented days do not count later. Ask each employer for sea-service letters when you sign off, not years later when the office has closed. Store them with the credential.
Training providers offer the courses the Coast Guard lists for each endorsement. Take the ones your target endorsement names, from a provider the Coast Guard recognizes. Keep the completion records. Do not collect random classes and hope they add up. The National Maritime Center publishes what each endorsement rests on. Read that list for the route you want, then work toward it while you are still sailing as a mate. Masters who wait until they are "ready" often find a missing class between them and the next ship.
Who hires a master
Operating companies hire masters: tug and barge firms, ferry systems, offshore operators, shipping lines, and government fleets. Some sectors hire through union halls, including organizations of masters and mates. Some hire directly. A resume for this job leads with the credential, the endorsements, the vessel types, and the routes. Then it names the companies and the ranks. A paragraph of personality is useless next to a missing endorsement. Put the Mariner Reference Number where a crewing clerk can see it.
Hiring managers call previous masters and port captains. They ask whether you ran a quiet hitch, whether the paperwork was clean, and whether the crew would sail with you again. They ask which waters you actually know. Answer with vessels and dates. If you have only been a mate, say so, and point to the endorsement you are qualified to sail under today. Applying for master with a mate's endorsement is normal when the company will sail you as mate first. Applying for master while implying you already hold the endorsement is a short way to end the call.
The interview is usually practical. Schedule, rotation, vessel condition, and who you report to ashore. Ask how reliefs work, what the hitch length is, and whether the wage is a day rate or a salary. Ask whether the company pays for the training and medical checks the credential requires. Those answers change the value of any offer more than a speech about leadership. You are joining a vessel that already has a routine. Show that you can enter it without announcing a personal revolution.
Deckhand, mate, master
The ladder is visible on every ship. Deck ratings learn the vessel and build sea time. A mate stands watch, handles cargo operations with the master, and becomes the person the company will consider when a master's chair opens. A master runs the vessel for the owner. Beside that ladder, some masters move ashore: port captain, crewing, marine superintendent, company operations. Those jobs still rest on the years aboard. A superintendent who never held the credential is a different career. Do not blur the titles on a resume.
Specialization pays in opportunity more than in adjectives. Inland towing, harbor tugs, ferries, offshore, and deep-sea cargo each have their own endorsements, companies, and reputations. Switching is possible and slow, because sea time in one trade does not automatically satisfy another endorsement. Choose early enough that your letters match the ships you want at forty. A person who loves being home at night should look hard at ferries and harbor work before signing an ocean rotation for the wage alone.
Teaching and pilot selection are later doors for some masters. So is relief work, sailing for several companies as a fill-in master. Relief work keeps your sea time fresh and shows you how different offices run. It also means your income follows the phone. If you take that path, the credential must stay current, and your day-rate conversation should be explicit. A relief master who will not name a rate will be assigned whatever the last relief accepted.
Reading the May 2025 figures
Wages here are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels. Mates and pilots share this release with masters, and the series should be named only in this pay talk. Entry is $47,420. The national median is $92,460. The high end of the published range is $348,100 in California. From entry to the national median the gap is $45,040. From the national median to that high end the gap is $255,640. From the national median to the highest state median the gap is $40,250.
State medians are a different statistic. Tennessee has the highest median at $132,710. Louisiana is $117,160. Texas is $111,390. California's median is $110,090. New York is $104,800. The lowest median in the release is Michigan at $53,590. The gap between Tennessee and Michigan is $79,120. Notice California's place in that list. The state's median, $110,090, sits below Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas. The high end differs from the state median, and in this release the two headlines even belong to different states.
California's high end, Tennessee's median
The high end of the published range is $348,100 in California. The highest median is $132,710 in Tennessee. The high end is not the state median. California's own median is $110,090. Quoting $348,100 as what a captain "typically" makes in California mixes the top of the range with the middle.
Contract talks that stay on the numbers
Put the offer next to $47,420 and $92,460 before you discuss the ship. An early mate's wage near entry has a $45,040 climb ahead of it to the national median. A wage near $92,460 matches the national middle for this whole release, which includes mates and pilots as well as masters. If you are sailing as master, ask where masters in that company sit relative to the median, because the release does not separate the three roles into three medians. You are using a shared figure, and you should say so rather than pretend it is a master-only number.
Use state medians when the vessel's hiring office is in one of the states above. Tennessee's $132,710 is $40,250 above the national median. Louisiana, Texas, California, and New York also sit above the national middle, with California's median at $110,090. Michigan's $53,590 is close to entry and $79,120 below Tennessee. A move is a comparison of medians plus the rotation. A higher median with a hitch that keeps you aboard half the year is a different life from a ferry schedule near a lower median. The release will not choose for you. It will keep the wage half of the choice honest.
Touch $348,100 carefully. It is the high end of the published range in California, $255,640 above the national median, and it differs from every state median in this release, including California's $110,090 and Tennessee's $132,710. It belongs in a conversation about a senior command, a specialized vessel, or a long record as master. It does not belong in a first contract as the number you expect to see. If a recruiter leads with it, ask whether the offer is near the national median, near a state median, or actually near that high end. Make them pick a line.
Close on paper. Hitch length, relief practice, travel to the vessel, and who pays for credential renewals all change what a day rate is worth, and you should attach those facts to the dollar figure rather than to a mood. Write the offer, the national median, and the relevant state median in the same note you keep with the mariner credential. When the next ship calls, you will know whether the new number is a step toward Tennessee's median, a match for California's median, or a story that only works if someone confuses the high end with the middle.
The top of Ship Captain pay — and how to get there with AI
$348,100what Ship Captain pay reaches in California
Highest state-level top-of-range annual wage for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels, among states with at least 500 people in the job. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
And the role it leads to — Ship Engineers — reaches $244,020 in Louisiana.
$47,420entry$92,460middle$348,100top end
Operators pay a ship captain most when the vessel's behaviour is a set of figures somebody can act on, not a feeling the master carries around and takes with them when they leave.
The record a master keeps is usually the minimum: daily activities, positions and movements, ports of call, weather and sea conditions, pollution control efforts, cargo or passenger status, filed and forgotten. Nobody is measuring the things that decide whether the operation makes money, which is consumption against sea state, how much water there really was under the keel on each approach, how gauge readings for hydraulic fluid, air pressure and oxygen have drifted month to month, and how often equipment came due late. That work is nobody's job, which is exactly why taking it makes a captain hard to replace. Weather observations logged through KNMI TurboWin and readings pushed into Microsoft Excel do the arithmetic; the judgement about what to measure stays yours.
Your playbook, by where you are now
Just startingTurn readings into a series
Record gauge readings as figures with dates rather than ticks, so hydraulic fluid, air pressure and oxygen become a trend you can look back along.
Note the depth your equipment measured on every approach beside the charted figure, and mark where the two disagree.
Log sea state and wind with the passage, not separately, so consumption and conditions can be read together.
Time your dockings and undockings, especially lock transits and tight berths, and write what the current and wind were doing.
Keep the fault record with the date it was found and the date it was cleared, on every winch, navigational system, fire extinguisher and life preserver.
What proves it: A year of readings that form a line on a chart rather than a pile of ticks.
Realistic span: the first years holding a ticket
A few years inBuild the vessel's baseline
Work out consumption at each working speed in flat water, then show how much sea state costs you against that baseline.
Push servicing into a computerized maintenance management system CMMS driven by running hours rather than by memory.
Compare your charted passages in FURUNO navigational chart software or Jeppesen Marine Nobeltec Admiral against what was actually steered, and account for the difference.
Score arrival readiness: whether fuelling, stores and repairs were arranged ahead or scrambled at the last hour.
Ask Claude to assemble your passage figures into a monthly summary, then check every number against the log book software entries before it goes ashore.
What proves it: A monthly vessel summary an operator reads without being chased for it.
Realistic span: roughly years four to eight
ExperiencedSet the quality bar for more than your hull
Define what good looks like in measurable terms for the class of vessel you run, and publish it to the other masters.
Own inspection readiness as a measured programme, with findings counted and closed rather than fixed the week before.
Take pollution control reporting seriously enough to trend it, because that record is scrutinised harder every year.
Bring your figures into fleet purchasing conversations, so equipment is chosen on running cost rather than on the first invoice.
Move toward the tonnage, trade or engineering side that prices this experience highest; California leads the states for this occupation.
What proves it: A fleet standard measured against your figures, on hulls other than your own.
Realistic span: year nine and after
The next 90 days
Give one quarter to a single measurement and take it seriously. Consumption is the obvious one. Every watch, write down speed, engine setting, wind, sea state and what was burned, and do not skip the ugly days. Twelve weeks in, you will be able to say what this vessel costs to move at each speed and what weather actually adds, which almost no master aboard any comparable ship can state. Bring it ashore with one recommendation attached, whether that is a different working speed, an earlier departure, or a repair that has been quietly costing fuel. A captain who arrives with a number and a recommendation is treated differently from one who arrives with an opinion, and the difference compounds every time you do it.
Wage figures: BLS OEWS, May 2025. The playbook is PayCrunch editorial guidance, not a guarantee of pay or placement.
Every figure is the national median from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS) shown on that role’s own page.
Never used AI before? Start here (2 minutes).
Start with weather routing — StormGeo or DTN — because it is the fastest money-and-safety win a captain controls. A good AI-optimized route around heavy weather protects the cargo and crew and cuts fuel burn on the same voyage. Use it as a recommendation you evaluate against your own read of the barometer, the swell, and the ECDIS — you set the final course.
For the paperwork that eats a master's day — port state control prep, ISM and MARPOL logs, incident reports, crew briefings — use ChatGPT or Claude to draft and check against the regulations (never with commercially sensitive or personal crew data). With Starlink now common at sea, these tools are usable on the bridge. AI is the second officer who preps the passage plan and the paperwork; you remain the master.
The one rule, forever: AI weather routing, fuel, and collision-avoidance tools are decision support only — under COLREGs and SOLAS the master retains sole command and full responsibility. Never let automation replace a proper lookout, watchkeeping, or seamanship; always cross-check AI routing against official ECDIS and paper charts, and never follow a recommendation you cannot justify to a casualty investigator.
The plays — exact steps, exact prompts
Do these in order. Each one is copy-paste ready. You do not need to know anything about AI going in.
1
Weather-route and speed-optimize every voyage
Why this pays: Fuel is the owner's largest voyage cost and heavy weather is what damages cargo and delays arrival. A master who consistently delivers optimized, safe routes gets trusted with the biggest, most valuable ships — where the top pay and bonuses live.
StormGeoDTNNAPA Voyage Optimization
1
Run every ocean passage through StormGeo or DTN weather routing, then evaluate the recommendation against your own read of the forecast and the ECDIS before committing.
2
Use AI to compare route options and their trade-offs.
Copy-paste this prompt
You are my navigation and weather-routing assistant. Given this forecast summary for [the North Atlantic, next 5 days: wave height, wind, pressure systems] and a passage from [port A] to [port B] with a laden [Panamax bulk carrier], ETA [date], compare a great-circle route against a weather-optimized southerly route: expected fuel difference, time difference, and the specific weather risk each avoids. Present it as a recommendation I make the final call on.
General routing only. Cross-check against official ECDIS and charts; the master's judgment overrides the software.
What you'll haveSafer, faster, lower-fuel passages that build the track record owners look for when they crew their premium vessels.
2
Hit CII and emissions targets while trimming fuel
Why this pays: The IMO's carbon-intensity rules now put a rating on your ship, and a poor one hurts its charter value. A master who drives a strong CII rating with speed and trim discipline protects the vessel's earning power — and his own value to the owner.
ZeroNorthWärtsilä VoyageNAPA
1
Use ZeroNorth or Wärtsilä Voyage to monitor fuel, speed, and trim in real time and to see how each choice moves the CII rating.
2
Get a prioritized list of the levers that matter most.
Copy-paste this prompt
Act as a maritime energy-efficiency advisor. My vessel is a [50,000 DWT bulk carrier] currently trending a CII rating of [C]. Explain the operational levers that most improve CII without cargo impact — speed profile, trim, hull and propeller condition, weather routing — and give me a prioritized action list with the rough fuel or rating impact of each. Reference the IMO CII framework.
General guidance. Verify against your ship's actual performance data and the current IMO regulations.
What you'll haveA better CII rating and lower bunker bills — measurable value to the owner that argues for command of their best ships.
3
Add an AI collision-avoidance and watch-support net
Why this pays: A single casualty can end a career and cost the owner millions; a spotless safety record is what keeps you employed on high-value tankers and cruise ships. AI situational awareness is a second set of eyes that makes a tired bridge safer without replacing the lookout.
Orca AIWindward
1
Where fitted, use Orca AI situational-awareness displays as a confirming second set of eyes in congested waters — never as a replacement for a proper lookout or your own seamanship.
2
Build a disciplined bridge routine around it.
Copy-paste this prompt
You are a bridge-resource-management coach. Draft a concise night-orders template and a watchkeeper checklist for transiting [a high-traffic strait such as the Singapore Strait] at night: lookout duties, CPA and TCPA thresholds to call the master, use of the AI situational-awareness display as a second set of eyes rather than a replacement, and the escalation triggers. Reference the COLREGs rules for a crossing situation.
Decision support only. The lookout and the master's judgment always take precedence over any display.
What you'll haveA tighter, safer bridge and a clean incident record — the reputation that earns command of premium, high-liability vessels.
4
Turn the compliance mountain into minutes
Why this pays: Port state control detentions and compliance failures cost the owner money and mark your record. Using AI to prep inspections and structure the endless logs keeps you off the detention list and frees the master to actually command.
ChatGPTClaudeThe Nautical Institute reference library
1
Use ChatGPT or Claude to structure ISM and MARPOL entries and to build a port-state-control readiness checklist before arrival — keeping crew personal data and commercial terms out of the tool.
2
Self-inspect before the inspector arrives.
Copy-paste this prompt
Act as an ISM and port-state-control compliance assistant. Turn these rough voyage notes [paste generic notes, no crew personal data] into a properly structured master's review of the safety management system. Then give me a Port State Control readiness checklist for [the Paris MoU] focused on the top detainable deficiencies for a [bulk carrier], so I can self-inspect before arrival.
General compliance guidance only. Verify against the actual regulations and your company's SMS; never enter crew PII or commercial data.
What you'll haveFaster, cleaner inspections and less paperwork drag — fewer detentions and more of your time spent commanding the ship.
5
Command bigger ships and shore roles via faster license prep
Why this pays: The jump from mate to master, or from master to marine superintendent or pilot, is where pay steps up toward and past $348k. AI is the most efficient exam tutor ever built, shortening the path to the license that unlocks the next pay band.
ChatGPTClaudeNotebookLM
1
Load your study materials into NotebookLM to build a queryable revision book, and use ChatGPT or Claude as a tutor and quiz-master for the oral and written exams.
2
Get a structured study plan and drilling.
Copy-paste this prompt
You are my exam tutor for the [USCG Master Unlimited / MCA Master] license. Build a 12-week study plan covering [celestial navigation, stability, COLREGs, cargo, ship construction], with weekly topics, the highest-yield areas, and 10 practice questions per week with worked answers. Then quiz me on [ship stability — GM and free surface effect].
Use for study only. Confirm all rules against the current official regulations and your exam syllabus.
What you'll haveThe higher license or shore-side qualification, reached faster — the credential that moves you into the top pay band.
Your 12-month sequence to the top of the range
How the plays above stack into a path from median pay toward the $348,100 tier.
Month 1
Adopt AI weather routing on every voyage; log fuel and time against your baseline route.
Months 2-3
Add fuel and CII optimization; drive your emissions rating up with speed and trim discipline and record the savings.
Months 3-6
Bring AI situational awareness onto the bridge as a confirming second set of eyes and tighten watchkeeping standards.
Months 6-12
Automate your compliance and PSC prep, and use AI study tools to sit for a higher license or a shore-side superintendent role.
Gear for this job
As an Amazon Associate, PayCrunch earns from qualifying purchases. Links to books and tools are for the job on this page; we only recommend what we’d use in the work.
Same live Paradise Cay color Nav Rules handbook already on tugboat-captain (ASIN B017V8861I). This leftover page’s one-rule is under COLREGs and SOLAS the master retains sole command; license play is USCG Master Unlimited / MCA Master covering COLREGs; bridge prompt references the COLREGs rules for a crossing situation. Carriage/study handbook for leftover COLREGs / USCG Master work — not leftover Lapware as a dump. Confirm B017V8861I, not an invented newer reprint ISBN. Live page HTTP 200, no PC_GEAR / amazon.com/dp / tag=paycrunch-20 at 2026-09-17 5:55 PM PT.
Next steps for a Ship Captain
Some links below are affiliate or partner links. PayCrunch may earn a commission if you enroll or subscribe through them, at no extra cost to you. Wage figures on this page still come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not from these programs.
Ship Captain work is specific enough that a stamped 'check out these courses' block would be noise. BLS files this work as Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels (SOC 53-5021). O*NET Job Zone 3 is typical: vocational school, an apprenticeship, or an associate-level credential, so the honest next credential is a certificate, an apprenticeship-aligned course, or an associate-level program — not a random catalog dump.
The occupation's listed knowledge areas include Transportation and Law and Government; the links search those subjects, not a generic 'career courses' list.
Ship Captains in this dataset list Apple macOS among the tools in use, so a program that names that stack is a better fit than a survey course.
Coursera search for transportation — a certificate, an apprenticeship-aligned course, or an associate-level program that lines up with transportation, not a generic professional-development aisle.
Write a Ship Captain resume, or one aimed at Ship Engineers, instead of a blank template. Resume Now is a resume builder; we are not claiming a counted template set for this SOC.
A Ship Captain resume that names the actual tasks on this page, or the step-up title Ship Engineers, beats a blank template when you apply.
What Ship Captains earn by state
These are the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own figures for Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels, state by state — not a cost-of-living adjustment applied to the national number. Only states employing at least 500 people in the occupation are shown, because a state median drawn from a handful of workers is noise rather than a signal.
Tennessee
$132,710
highest of them · +44% vs the national median
Michigan
$53,590
lowest of the 18 states that qualify · -42% vs the national median
The same job pays $79,120 more a year at the median in Tennessee than in Michigan — 148% higher. That gap is what the Bureau measured, before any question of what it costs to live in either place. The top-of-range figure quoted at the head of this page, $348,100, is a different statistic in a different place: it is the 90th-percentile wage in California. The state that pays the typical worker most and the state where the best-paid go highest are not always the same one.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 53-5021. 18 states clear the 500-employee reporting floor for this occupation; those below it are left out rather than shown with a wide error band.
Free data. Use any of it.
PayCrunch publishes verified, BLS-sourced salary + AI-playbook data on 1,000+ professions — free, no signup.
Not on a crewed vessel. The master holds legal command and must exercise seamanship no algorithm can be held responsible for. Autonomous tech is advancing on short, simple routes, but on ocean-going ships AI augments the bridge — and the captain who uses it saves fuel and avoids casualties, which is exactly who owners want on their biggest ships.
Can I use these tools at sea with limited connectivity?
Increasingly, yes. Starlink and other low-earth-orbit systems now give many ships real broadband, and routing and optimization tools also run on cached forecasts. Even fully offline, a general AI on a laptop helps with paperwork and license-exam prep.
Is AI weather routing safe to follow?
As a recommendation, not an order. Always cross-check against official ECDIS, charts, and your own read of conditions, and never take a route you could not defend to a casualty inquiry. The master's judgment overrides the software, every time.
How does this move me toward $348k?
Top pay goes to masters of large or specialized vessels — LNG, chemical, cruise, offshore — where fuel efficiency and safety records are worth millions. Demonstrable fuel savings, a strong CII rating, and zero incidents are what earn those commands and their bonuses.
What about crew and commercial data in AI tools?
Keep it out of consumer AI. Personal crew data, cargo manifests, charter terms, and other commercially sensitive information stay in approved systems. Use general tools for regulations, drafting, and study phrased generically.
Methodology & sources
Salary (median, 10th, top of the range) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS.
By state — the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own state medians, limited to states employing at least 500 people in the occupation. No cost-of-living arithmetic is applied to a wage anywhere on this page.
The plays — PayCrunch's own step-by-step guidance using publicly available AI tools. Tool names/URLs are real and current as of August 2026; prompts written to work as-is. Verify any professional output before relying on it.