Crossing Guards and Flaggers
Guide or control vehicular or pedestrian traffic at such places as streets, schools, railroad crossings, or construction sites.
Most important skills
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Active Listening
- Monitoring
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
- Judgment and Decision Making
Key knowledge
- Public Safety and Security
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Law and Government
- Psychology
- Education and Training
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Administration and Management
What the work involves
- Monitor traffic flow to locate safe gaps through which pedestrians can cross streets.
- Direct or escort pedestrians across streets, stopping traffic, as necessary.
- Guide or control vehicular or pedestrian traffic at such places as street and railroad crossings and construction sites.
- Communicate traffic and crossing rules and other information to students and adults.
- Report unsafe behavior of children to school officials.
- Record license numbers of vehicles disregarding traffic signals, and report infractions to appropriate authorities.
- Direct traffic movement or warn of hazards, using signs, flags, lanterns, and hand signals.
- Learn the location and purpose of street traffic signs within assigned patrol areas.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (72.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (62.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (60.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Crossing Guards and Flaggers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 70% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 89% of occupations compared | 71% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 93% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 62% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 99% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Conflict situations | Low | Lower on conflict situations than 70% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 75% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 91% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 1.81%
- Occasional contact with others: 21.67%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.65%
- Contact with others most of the time: 16.67%
- Constant contact with others: 59.2%
n = 32, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 2.13%
- Fairly important: 2.33%
- Important: 13.47%
- Very important: 11.24%
- Extremely important: 70.83%
n = 32, Incumbent 07/2016
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 14.47%
- Fairly important: 26.19%
- Important: 8.44%
- Very important: 13.27%
- Extremely important: 37.63%
n = 31, Incumbent 07/2016
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 27.08%
- Some freedom: 20.82%
- A lot of freedom: 52.1%
n = 32, Incumbent 07/2016
Time pressure
- Never: 67.04%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 4.96%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.3%
- Every day: 26.7%
n = 32, Incumbent 07/2016
Conflict situations
- Never: 33.67%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 16.81%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.14%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 5.35%
n = 32, Incumbent 07/2016
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 8.36%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 25.58%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 15.96%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 28.72%
- Every day: 21.37%
n = 32, Incumbent 07/2016
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 8.08%
- Fairly serious: 0.67%
- Serious: 17.52%
- Very serious: 21.7%
- Extremely serious: 52.03%
n = 31, Incumbent 07/2016
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O*NET-SOC 33-9091.00 · SOC 33-9091 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8