New York·Transportation and Material Moving Occupations·SOC 53-6041

Best Traffic Technician programs in New York, ranked by enrollment

Conduct field studies to determine traffic volume, speed, effectiveness of signals, adequacy of lighting, and other factors influencing traffic conditions, under direction of traffic.

11 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 147 people a year. The job pays a median of $71,670 in New York across about 950 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledTraffic TechnicianTransportation TechnicianTraffic Control TechnicianTraffic Signal Technician (TST)Sign TechnicianTraffic AnalystPavement EngineerPermit Technician
Graduates / yr
147
in New York
Median pay · New York
$71,670
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
950
people employed
Schools
11
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
34%
across those schools
Median net price
$40,821
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in New York that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in New York that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in New York (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New York page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 15.0201In New York
147
100.0%
11$58,970$27,000

Top 11 schools in New York

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 11 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Farmingdale State College
Farmingdale, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
37Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians53%63%
2CUNY New York City College of Technology
Brooklyn, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
21Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians21%80%
3SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Utica, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
18Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians$62,09055%81%
4Nassau Community College
Garden City, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
17Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians23%
5SUNY College of Technology at Canton
Canton, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
14Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians$59,79338%92%
6Mohawk Valley Community College
Utica, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
12Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians38%
7Erie Community College
Buffalo, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
8Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians28%
8SUNY Broome Community College
Binghamton, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
8Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians23%
9SUNY Westchester Community College
Valhalla, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
6Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians25%
10Hudson Valley Community College
Troy, NY Public · 1 feeder programs
5Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians35%
11Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology
Flushing, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians39%$40,821

All 11 schools in New York

Every school in New York with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in New York that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Farmingdale State CollegeFarmingdalePublic371
CUNY New York City College of TechnologyBrooklynPublic211
SUNY Polytechnic InstituteUticaPublic181
Nassau Community CollegeGarden CityPublic171
SUNY College of Technology at CantonCantonPublic141
Mohawk Valley Community CollegeUticaPublic121
Erie Community CollegeBuffaloPublic81
SUNY Broome Community CollegeBinghamtonPublic81
SUNY Westchester Community CollegeValhallaPublic61
Hudson Valley Community CollegeTroyPublic51
Vaughn College of Aeronautics and TechnologyFlushingPrivate not-for-profit11

What traffic technicians earn in New York

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in New York
$71,670
Mean annual
$73,180
Jobs in state
950
What the range looks like
10th pct$46,000Median$71,67090th pct$105,720
Versus the national median
+21.3%

U.S. median $59,090. New York pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.94×

Concentrated here: New York employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in New York

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
$81,910median
750 jobs
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
$67,010median
130 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+3.7%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
800
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
300
7,900 → 8,200
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Traffic Technicians page.

How to become a Traffic Technician

Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Top skills

Active ListeningReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingSpeakingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in New York

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 2 majors mapped to Traffic Technicians2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 15.0201Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • 44.0403Transportation and Infrastructure Planning/Studies

Common questions

Answers for people weighing traffic technicians programs in New York.

What degree do you need to become a Traffic Technician?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians, which awarded 147 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Traffic Technician?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 147 people a year in New York.

How much do traffic technicians earn in New York?+

The median is $71,670 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 21.3% above the U.S. median of $59,090. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for traffic technicians growing?+

BLS projects a +3.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 800 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+

11 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do traffic technicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Traffic Technician, Transportation Technician, Traffic Control Technician, Traffic Signal Technician (TST) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 53-6041.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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