Metro area, Alabama
Huntsville, AL
266,650 people work in this area, at mean pay of $71,090 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.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 108 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 43%
- 16%
- 41%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 16% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
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, 18%. Today's estimate: 21%.
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.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 50% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Service Representatives | 3,340 | 64% | 4.5 million | $38K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 4,700 | 43% | 4.2 million | $46K |
| Registered Nurses | 6,800 | 28% | 3.9 million | $77K |
| Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants | 1,800 | 81% | 3 million | $38K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 1,830 | 78% | 3 million | $47K |
| Retail Salespersons | 7,030 | 19% | 2.8 million | $33K |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 5,330 | 19% | 2.1 million | $35K |
| Software Developers | 7,030 | 14% | 2 million | $128K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers | 2,300 | 40% | 1.9 million | $39K |
| General and Operations Managers | 4,050 | 23% | 1.9 million | $136K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers | 2,670 | 32% | 1.8 million | $68K |
| Cashiers | 4,320 | 19% | 1.7 million | $30K |
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. 384 smaller jobs (125,240 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 95% 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.
- Modify existing software to correct errors, adapt it to new hardware, or upgrade interfaces and improve performance.Software Developers2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints.Software Developers1.4 million hours70% of the task within reach
- Develop or direct software system testing or validation procedures, programming, or documentation.Software Developers1.3 million hours79% of the task within reach
- Write technical reports or other documentation, such as handbooks or bulletins, for use by engineering staff, management, or customers.Aerospace Engineers1.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Perform administrative or managerial functions, such as taking responsibility for a unit's staff, budget, planning, or long-range goals.Registered Nurses1.1 million hours60% of the task within reach
- Formulate conceptual design of aeronautical or aerospace products or systems to meet customer requirements or conform to environmental regulations.Aerospace Engineers1.1 million hours98% of the task within reach
- Design, develop and modify software systems, using scientific analysis and mathematical models to predict and measure outcomes and consequences of design.Software Developers1.1 million hours38% of the task within reach
- Determine system performance standards.Software Developers1 million hours98% of the task within reach
- Coordinate conferences, meetings, or special events, such as luncheons or graduation ceremonies.Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive1 million hours53% of the task within reach
- Analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan installation of a new system or modification of an existing system.Software Developers949,767 hours99% of the task within reach
Other areas in Alabama
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Birmingham, AL520,290 people22% now, 36% by 2028
- Mobile, AL172,550 people22% now, 34% by 2028
- Montgomery, AL165,550 people22% now, 35% by 2028
- Northeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area152,620 people19% now, 28% by 2028
- Tuscaloosa, AL108,460 people20% now, 31% by 2028
- Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL87,120 people21% now, 30% by 2028
- Southeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area83,750 people20% now, 30% by 2028
- Auburn-Opelika, AL72,710 people21% now, 32% by 2028
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