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STRATUSWORKFORCE SCAN

Metro area, Kentucky

Bowling Green, KY

82,160 people work in this area, at mean pay of $54,720 a year (BLS, May 2025), in every industry. What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.

now
28%

of the paid hours. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.

$1.7B

a year: 44 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.

Kinds of work
  • 31%
  • 22%
  • 47%
5%

of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 23% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.

Across the US: 30% within reach now and 36% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.

Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030

0%25%50%75%100%2027202820292030NowDesk work: 31% of the time
Chosen to Ceiling: the share
DateNow
NowEnd of 2030
Change assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five

What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .

What handing the work over would take

For the 75,260 people in jobs so far, 92% of the area's people; the others are in the totals above and join this split as the review reaches their jobs. Shares of their working time within reach now, at the pace and reliability chosen above. Estimates. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.

17%

about 27 million hours a year. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.

10%

about 16 million hours a year. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.

, not counted
6%

about 9.6 million hours a year. Short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the totals.

What their work is made of

  • 21%
  • 11%
  • 7%
  • 15%
  • 47%

Each task's time split among five kinds of doing, judged one task at a time; only documents and systems can count as within reach.

What changes for the people

For the 75,260 people in jobs reviewed task by task so far, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five: the shares of their working time, from each job page's own map, weighted by how many people here do that job. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job. Estimates.

Stays with people
68%

Conversation, in-person and hands-on work.

Becomes checking
24%

Desk work within reach in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs.

Handed over
7%

Desk work within reach that is small if wrong, with lighter checks.

What most people here would learn first

How many of them have each skill among the first two things to learn on their job's page. Every state, and the US

  • The hands-on craft42,823 (57%)
  • Reviewing work you did not do yourself25,015 (33%)
  • Judgment where errors are severe22,422 (30%)
  • The conversations21,260 (28%)
  • Briefing a model and checking its drafts16,583 (22%)
  • Signing off under your license7,797 (10%)
  • Running AI inside the business systems6,800 (9%)
  • Dealing with people outside the organization2,890 (4%)
  • Handling protected records260 (under 1%)

How far this has come

With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this area's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 19%. Today's estimate: 28%.

0%10%20%30%40%2023202420252026GPT-4, March 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4 Turbo (Nov 2023), November 2023: 0% within reachGPT-4o, May 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (June 2024), June 2024: 0% within reacho1-preview, September 2024: 0% within reachClaude 3.5 Sonnet (Oct 2024), October 2024: 0% within reacho1, December 2024: 1% within reachClaude 3.7 Sonnet, February 2025: 2% within reacho3, April 2025: 6% within reachGPT-5, August 2025: 8% within reachGemini 3 Pro, November 2025: 10% within reachClaude Opus 4.5, November 2025: 10% within reachGPT-5.2, December 2025: 12% within reachClaude Opus 4.6, February 2026: 12% within reachClaude Mythos Preview (early), April 2026: 19% within reachToday (estimate), November 2026: 28% within reach
Each step is a new best model measured by METR, four in five; the dashed end is today's estimate. Point at a dot for the model.

A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.

Robots and the physical work

Anthropic rates 53% of the working time of the people in this area as physical work. For 42% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 29% in a purpose-built cell, 12% in a structured facility, 1% in any setting. 0.56 of 3.

  • Not physical 47%
  • No robot shown 12%
  • In a purpose-built cell 29%
  • In a structured facility 12%
  • In any setting 1%

Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. Weighted by the people in each occupation; each job's page names the robot behind each rated task.

Where the hours are

Jobs by hours within reach now. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index. The 40 largest jobs hold 56% of the people.

People: BLS counts for this area, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this area, else its mean, else the national median. 260 smaller jobs (33,520 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 92% of the area's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.

The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028

Across the whole area, on the chosen pace and reliability.

  1. Perform bookkeeping duties, such as credits or collections, preparing and sending financial statements or bills, and keeping financial records.Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
    416,589 hours100% of the task within reach
  2. Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices.Retail Salespersons
    329,583 hours50% of the task within reach
  3. Perform administrative or managerial functions, such as taking responsibility for a unit's staff, budget, planning, or long-range goals.Registered Nurses
    313,471 hours60% of the task within reach
  4. Operate computers programmed with accounting software to record, store, and analyze information.Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
    292,687 hours100% of the task within reach
  5. Record numbers of units handled or moved, using daily production sheets or work tickets.Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
    288,303 hours100% of the task within reach
  6. Obtain and examine all relevant information to assess validity of complaints and to determine possible causes, such as extreme weather conditions that could increase utility bills.Customer Service Representatives
    264,800 hours100% of the task within reach
  7. Open and close cash registers, performing tasks such as counting money, separating charge slips, coupons, and vouchers, balancing cash drawers, and making deposits.Retail Salespersons
    262,230 hours50% of the task within reach
  8. Direct and coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with the production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products.General and Operations Managers
    257,052 hours40% of the task within reach
  9. Set prices or credit terms for goods or services, based on forecasts of customer demand.General and Operations Managers
    245,747 hours100% of the task within reach
  10. Keep periodic balance sheets of amounts and numbers of transactions.Cashiers
    245,549 hours100% of the task within reach

The regional report on Bowling Green, KY

This page lists the largest jobs. The scan reads the whole workforce: every occupation BLS publishes here that the site has task data for, 92% of the people, at their local headcount and pay. The preview is free. The full report ($249, or included in Pro) is the report for a workforce board, a college or an economic development team: every occupation and the tasks behind its hours, what handing the work over would take, what changes for the people in each job and what they would learn, with the workbook and the slides to cite. Dated, with the method. For workforce boards and colleges

See what it holds first: the full report for Worcester, MA, Excel and slides.

Other areas in Kentucky

Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.

How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this area; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the area's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works

Questions about this area

How much of the work in Bowling Green, KY is within reach of AI now?
An estimated 28% of the paid hours in Bowling Green, KY are within reach of AI models now and 31% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
Which jobs in Bowling Green, KY carry the most hours within reach?
By hours within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index): General and Operations Managers (2,010 people, 45% of their time, about 1.9 million hours a year); Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants (1,040 people, 84% of their time, about 1.8 million hours a year); and Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (900 people, 88% of their time, about 1.6 million hours a year).
Which tasks in Bowling Green, KY carry the most hours within reach by the end of 2028?
Perform bookkeeping duties, such as credits or collections, preparing and sending financial statements or bills, and keeping financial records (Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, about 416,589 hours a year); Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices (Retail Salespersons, about 329,583 hours a year); and Perform administrative or managerial functions, such as taking responsibility for a unit's staff, budget, planning, or long-range goals (Registered Nurses, about 313,471 hours a year).
What would people working in Bowling Green, KY learn first?
Among the 75,260 people in jobs reviewed task by task, the skills most often among the first two things to learn on their job's page are the hands-on craft (42,823 people); reviewing work you did not do yourself (25,015 people); and judgment where errors are severe (22,422 people). By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 68% of their working time stays with people, 24% becomes checking a model's work and 7% can be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
How is this estimated?
BLS counts the people in each occupation in Bowling Green, KY (May 2025); each occupation's share of working time within reach comes from its O*NET tasks, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. The area's share is those shares weighted by people. Task data covers 92% of its people, and 92% are in occupations reviewed task by task. Data checked November 10, 2026.

How the estimates are made

Embed these figures on your site

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