SOC 2018

Name: SOC 2018
Creator: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
License: https://www.bls.gov/opub/copyright-information.htm

The 2018 Standard Occupational Classification: 1,447 occupation codes across four levels, searchable by code or by title. Published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Provenance

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Effective version: 2018
Retrieved: 2026-09-23
Refresh cadence: About once a decade; next revision expected around 2028
Licence: U.S. Government work. Not subject to copyright protection in the United States (17 U.S.C. §105). Read the licence
Attribution: Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018 Standard Occupational Classification

Field schema

1,447 items, across 4 hierarchy levels: major_group, minor_group, broad_occupation, detailed_occupation.

major_group: 23
minor_group: 98
broad_occupation: 459
detailed_occupation: 867

Every field this dataset’s items carry
Field	Type	Meaning
value	string	The canonical, unique value — what a query resolves to.
displayValue	string	The locale-resolved label a suggestion renders.
description	string, optional	Free-text detail shown beside the item. NAICS uses it for the ancestor breadcrumb; not every dataset sets it.
parentSourceId	string, optional	The parent item in the source’s own key space, for a hierarchical dataset.
hierarchyLevel	string, optional	Which level of the hierarchy this item sits at.
displayOrder	integer	Curated display order, distinct from relevance rank (`DEC-LIST-004`).
aliases	string[]	Alternate spellings that resolve to this item at no extra runtime KV read (`DEC-ALIAS-001`).
metadata	object	Dataset-specific fields — e.g. NAICS’s `code`/`level`/`trilateral`, or a country’s `alpha2`/`alpha3`/`numeric`.

A worked item

{
  "value": "11-1011",
  "displayValue": "Chief Executives",
  "description": "Management Occupations › Top Executives › Chief Executives",
  "aliases": [
    "11-1011",
    "Chief Executives"
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "code": "11-1011",
    "level": "detailed_occupation",
    "definition": "Determine and formulate policies and provide overall direction of companies or private and public sector organizations within guidelines set up by a board of directors or similar governing body. Plan, direct, or coordinate operational activities at the highest level of management with the help of subordinate executives and staff managers."
  },
  "ancestors": [
    {
      "value": "11-0000",
      "displayValue": "Management Occupations"
    },
    {
      "value": "11-1000",
      "displayValue": "Top Executives"
    },
    {
      "value": "11-1010",
      "displayValue": "Chief Executives"
    }
  ]
}

Query it

/v1/query?key=YOUR_PUBLISHABLE_KEY&q=chief

The publishable key above is a public, browser-safe identifier — never a secret.

Download

The licence above permits redistributing the compiled list as a file. Download SOC 2018 as JSON.

API reference: query