Emergency Management Directors
Plan and direct disaster response or crisis management activities, provide disaster preparedness training, and prepare emergency plans and procedures for natural (e.g., hurricanes, floods, earthquakes), wartime, or technological (e.g., nuclear power plant emergencies or hazardous materials spills) disasters or hostage situations.
13,500 people do this job in the US. $93,330 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 77%
- 19%
- 4%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 14%. Today's estimate: 20%.
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.
The tasks
Sorted by . 23 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare emergency situation status reports that describe response and recovery efforts, needs, and preliminary damage assessments.Done daily by most who do it. | 16% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 46%Half by Oct 2026 | |
| Collaborate with other officials to prepare and analyze damage assessments following disasters or emergencies.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 13% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | Stays with people | |
| Coordinate disaster response or crisis management activities, such as ordering evacuations, opening public shelters, and implementing special needs plans and programs.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 10% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | 32%Half by Jan 2027 | |
| Prepare plans that outline operating procedures to be used in response to disasters or emergencies, such as hurricanes, nuclear accidents, and terrorist attacks, and in recovery from these events.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 10% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 3.3 work weeks | 0%Half by Apr 2029 | |
| Design and administer emergency or disaster preparedness training courses that teach people how to effectively respond to major emergencies and disasters.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 2.1 work days3.3 h to 1.7 work weeks | 1%Half by Sep 2028 | |
| Develop instructional materials for the public and make presentations to citizens' groups to provide information on emergency plans and their implementation processes.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 2.1 work days | 10%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Apply for federal funding for emergency-management-related needs, and administer and report on the progress of such grants.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 2.5 work weeks | 0%Half by Jan 2029 | |
| Keep informed of federal, state, and local regulations affecting emergency plans, and ensure that plans adhere to those regulations.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 h50 min to 1.3 work days | 25%Half by Mar 2027 | |
| Develop and maintain liaisons with municipalities, county departments, and similar entities to facilitate plan development, response effort coordination, and exchanges of personnel and equipment.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h50 min to 5 h | 76%Half by now | |
| Attend meetings, conferences, and workshops related to emergency management to learn new information and to develop working relationships with other emergency management specialists.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 5 h1.3 h to 1.7 work days | 14%Half by Jun 2027 | |
| Consult with officials of local and area governments, schools, hospitals, and other institutions to determine their needs and capabilities in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Keep informed of activities or changes that could affect the likelihood of an emergency, response efforts, or plan implementation.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min25 min to 2.5 h | 95%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Business Continuity Planners5% now, 93% by 2028
- Security Managers9% now, 54% by 2028
- Security Management Specialists11% now, 70% by 2028
- Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors10% now, 62% by 2028
- Medical and Health Services Managers11% now, 63% by 2028
- Management Analysts5% now, 86% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Local Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals7,500 people
- State Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals2,010 people
- General Medical and Surgical Hospitals670 people
- Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools370 people
- Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services340 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).