Dispatcher Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 4,190 US job postings by 1,896 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for dispatchers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 4,190 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for dispatchers in US job postings is $22.21 an hour (717 postings from 460 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $19.43 to $25.58 an hour.
- The skills that most set dispatcher postings apart are customer service, dispatching, multitask.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Dispatcher job postings in the US, October 2026
- $22.21/hr
- Median advertised pay (717 postings)
- $19.43–$25.58
- Middle 50% of postings
- 4,190
- US job postings from 1,896 employers
- 2 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a dispatcher make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $22.21 an hour, from 717 US job postings by 460 employers that state pay. That is about $47,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 717 US dispatcher job postings: median $47,000 a year ($22.21 an hour), middle half $42,000 to $57,000.
- Median: $47,000 ($22.21/hr)
- 25th percentile: $42,000
- 75th percentile: $57,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 1.4% |
| $30K–$40K | 20.2% |
| $40K–$50K | 36.8% |
| $50K–$60K | 20.6% |
| $60K–$70K | 11.4% |
| $70K–$80K | 4.5% |
| $80K–$90K | 1.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 1.5% |
| $100K–$110K | 0.1% |
| $110K–$120K | 0.7% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $22.21 | $19.43–$25.58 | 602 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $47,000 | $42K–$57K | 717 |
What is the starting salary for a dispatcher?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying dispatcher jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dispatcher (general) | $22.38/hr | 551 | 340 |
Skills employers ask for in dispatcher job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 39% |
| Customer service | 24% |
| Organizational skills | 19% |
| Attention to detail | 17% |
| Excel | 15% |
| Problem-solving | 15% |
| Microsoft Office | 14% |
| Interpersonal skills | 12% |
| Multi-task | 9% |
| Multitask | 9% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set dispatchers apart
- Multitask4.5× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Multi-task4× as often as in all postings · 9%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a dispatcher job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a dispatcher do?
Employers post these jobs as Communications Officer, Public Safety Dispatcher, Service Dispatcher, Telecommunicator, Police Dispatcher and other titles. The largest specializations are Public Safety Dispatcher (17%), Service Coordinator (1%), Traffic Coordinator (under 1%), Flight Coordinator (under 1%), Load Planner (under 1%), ATC Specialist (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance (43-5032.00). Its most important tasks:
- Schedule or dispatch workers, work crews, equipment, or service vehicles to appropriate locations, according to customer requests, specifications, or needs, using radios or telephones.
- Prepare daily work and run schedules.
- Confer with customers or supervising personnel to address questions, problems, or requests for service or equipment.
- Relay work orders, messages, or information to or from work crews, supervisors, or field inspectors, using telephones or two-way radios.
- Receive or prepare work orders.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a dispatcher?
Among 1,026 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. Under 1% say 0 years and 50% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,026 US dispatcher job postings: median 2 years, and 50% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 3% |
| 1 yr | 46% |
| 2 yrs | 32% |
| 3-4 yrs | 13% |
| 5-7 yrs | 4% |
| 8-9 yrs | under 1% |
| 10+ yrs | 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 81%, Part-time 19% of the 425 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a dispatcher: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Dispatcher | 832 (43.9%) |
| Communications Officer | 70 (3.7%) |
| Public Safety Dispatcher | 69 (3.6%) |
| Service Dispatcher | 58 (3.1%) |
| Telecommunicator | 55 (2.9%) |
| Police Dispatcher | 52 (2.7%) |
| Dispatch Coordinator | 48 (2.5%) |
| Dispatcher I | 41 (2.2%) |
| Transportation Dispatcher | 35 (1.8%) |
| 911 Dispatcher | 23 (1.2%) |
| Dispatcher II | 23 (1.2%) |
| Security Dispatcher | 22 (1.2%) |
| Communications Dispatcher | 20 (1.1%) |
| Dispatch Specialist | 19 (1.0%) |
| Dispatch Supervisor | 19 (1.0%) |
| Public Safety Telecommunicator | 17 (0.9%) |
| 911 Telecommunicator | 16 (0.8%) |
| Security Dispatch | 16 (0.8%) |
| EMS Dispatcher | 15 (0.8%) |
| Emergency Communications Specialist | 13 (0.7%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Dispatcher compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dispatcher | $22.21/hr | 2 years | 4,190 | – |
| Customer Service Representative | $19.00/hr | 1 year | 33,817 | 19 |
| Administrative Assistant | $21.50/hr | 2 years | 14,117 | 18 |
| Receptionist | $19.00/hr | 1 year | 10,082 | 19 |
| Loan Processor | $57K | 2 years | 1,339 | 16 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Service Representative | 19 | $19.00/hr |
| Administrative Assistant | 18 | $21.50/hr |
| Receptionist | 19 | $19.00/hr |
| Loan Processor | 16 | $57K |
| Security Officer | 15 | $20.50/hr |
| Office Clerk | 16 | $20.73/hr |
Applying for dispatcher jobs?
- Dispatcher resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find dispatcher jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 20 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.