Work Context Index
Jobs with the least contact with other people
O*NET asks people in every occupation "How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?" and publishes the mean answer on a 1-to-5 scale. This page lists the 25 occupations whose mean sits lowest, with the BLS wage, education and outlook for each.
Which jobs involve the least contact with other people?
Across the 894 occupations O*NET 30.3 rates, the 25 lowest for Contact With Others average between 2.57 and 3.38 on O*NET's 1-to-5 scale, where 1 means "No contact with others" and 5 means "Constant contact with others"; the median across all occupations is 4.41. Lowest are Craft Artists (2.57), Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers (2.68), Fallers (2.84). Their median BLS wage is $47,580 (2025, 24 of 25 with a BLS line item), and 19 of the 24 with BLS education data typically need less than a bachelor's degree.
- Occupations compared
- 894 O*NET 30.3 occupations with published Work Context ratings
- What O*NET asks incumbents
- Contact With Others: "How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?"
- Scale
- 1 = No contact with others; 3 = Contact with others about half the time; 5 = Constant contact with others. Values are mean incumbent ratings.
- Wage and outlook source
- BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, Table 1.2 Occupational projections, 2025–35, and worker characteristics, 2025 (Employment in thousands). 2 of the 25 occupations listed have a dedicated RoleSprint page.
Source and method
O*NET 30.3 Database (Work Context), U.S. Department of Labor, and BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2. Verified 2026-09-05. Ratings are reproduced from O*NET as published mean incumbent responses on each question's own 1-to-5 scale. Percentile ranks, composite averages and the resulting order are RoleSprint's computation and are described on the methodology page. Wage, education and outlook fields are reproduced from BLS for the matching SOC code and left blank where BLS publishes no line item.
What this page does and does not claim
People search this as “jobs where you work alone”. This page answers that with the measurement behind it: Contact With Others, rated on a fixed 1-to-5 scale by people who do each job.
It does not say which jobs suit a personality, a temperament or a health condition. It reports a measured condition of the work and lets you decide whether that condition is the one you meant.
The 25 occupations
Ordered by mean rating for Contact With Others, lowest first. Scale: 1 = No contact with others; 5 = Constant contact with others.
| # | Occupation | O*NET value | Rank | BLS wage and education |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Craft Artists O*NET-SOC 27-1012.00 | 2.57 of 5 between "Occasional contact with others" and "Contact with others about half the time" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $46,080 median (2025) No formal educational credential · +2% 2025-35 |
| 2 | Poets, Lyricists and Creative Writers O*NET-SOC 27-3043.05 | 2.68 of 5 between "Occasional contact with others" and "Contact with others about half the time" | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $76,910 median (2025) Bachelor's degree · -0.3% 2025-35 |
| 3 | Fallers O*NET-SOC 45-4021.00 | 2.84 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $52,100 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -9.9% 2025-35 |
| 4 | Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers O*NET-SOC 51-3022.00 | 2.85 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $38,300 median (2025) No formal educational credential · +5.7% 2025-35 |
| 5 | Environmental Economists O*NET-SOC 19-3011.01 | 2.85 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $124,720 median (2025) Master's degree · +4.7% 2025-35 |
| 6 | Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators O*NET-SOC 27-1013.00 | 3.04 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $55,490 median (2025) Bachelor's degree · -2.9% 2025-35 |
| 7 | Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic O*NET-SOC 51-4031.00 | 3.12 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $46,330 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -10.5% 2025-35 |
| 8 | Rock Splitters, Quarry O*NET-SOC 47-5051.00 | 3.18 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $48,740 median (2025) No formal educational credential · +5.8% 2025-35 |
| 9 | Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers O*NET-SOC 37-3011.00 | 3.19 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $39,150 median (2025) No formal educational credential · +4.7% 2025-35 |
| 10 | Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners O*NET-SOC 49-9063.00 | 3.19 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $46,420 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +1.9% 2025-35 |
| 11 | Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-9012.00 | 3.21 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $51,610 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -5.7% 2025-35 |
| 12 | Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers O*NET-SOC 51-6011.00 | 3.23 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $34,890 median (2025) No formal educational credential · +4.3% 2025-35 |
| 13 | Dental Laboratory Technicians O*NET-SOC 51-9081.00 | 3.24 of 5 Contact with others about half the time | Lower than 99% of 894 occupations | $49,610 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -5.9% 2025-35 |
| 14 | Cooks, Fast Food O*NET-SOC 35-2011.00 | 3.27 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $30,890 median (2025) No formal educational credential · +0.6% 2025-35 |
| 15 | Glass Blowers, Molders, Benders, and Finishers O*NET-SOC 51-9195.04 | 3.27 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $46,170 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +5.8% 2025-35 |
| 16 | Furniture Finishers O*NET-SOC 51-7021.00 | 3.30 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $44,540 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -3.5% 2025-35 |
| 17 | Model Makers, Metal and Plastic O*NET-SOC 51-4061.00 | 3.31 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $63,340 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -17.3% 2025-35 |
| 18 | Business Intelligence Analysts O*NET-SOC 15-2051.01 | 3.32 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $120,230 median (2025) Bachelor's degree · +34.6% 2025-35 |
| 19 | Animal Breeders O*NET-SOC 45-2021.00 | 3.33 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $51,130 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +3% 2025-35 |
| 20 | Tapers O*NET-SOC 47-2082.00 | 3.34 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $68,270 median (2025) No formal educational credential · -1.6% 2025-35 |
| 21 | Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders O*NET-SOC 51-6062.00 | 3.35 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $38,760 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · -13.6% 2025-35 |
| 22 | Mathematicians O*NET-SOC 15-2021.00 | 3.35 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 98% of 894 occupations | $126,710 median (2025) Master's degree · +0.6% 2025-35 |
| 23 | Sewers, Hand O*NET-SOC 51-6051.00 | 3.36 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 97% of 894 occupations | $36,480 median (2025) No formal educational credential · -12% 2025-35 |
| 24 | Cytotechnologists O*NET-SOC 29-2011.02 | 3.36 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 97% of 894 occupations | No BLS line item for this occupation |
| 25 | Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing O*NET-SOC 51-9195.03 | 3.38 of 5 between "Contact with others about half the time" and "Contact with others most of the time" | Lower than 97% of 894 occupations | $46,170 median (2025) High school diploma or equivalent · +5.8% 2025-35 |
Values are mean ratings from O*NET 30.3; most come from surveys of people in the occupation, some from occupational experts, and some for newer occupations from O*NET analysts. Wage, education and outlook are from BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2 for the matching SOC code and are blank where BLS publishes no line item.
How this was measured
Contact With Others (O*NET element 4.C.1.a.4). The question put to incumbents: “How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?”
- 1
No contact with others
- 2
Occasional contact with others
- 3
Contact with others about half the time
- 4
Contact with others most of the time
- 5
Constant contact with others
894 of 894 occupations have a published, unsuppressed value for this element. The percentile beside each occupation is its position among them.
The full method, including how ties are broken and what the data cannot tell you, is on the methodology page.
Narrow the list with BLS data
Each variant keeps the same measure and restricts the occupations by a published BLS threshold. A variant exists only where the restriction actually changes the list rather than the heading; the combinations that left the answer much as it was were not published.
Combine this with other conditions
The explorer ranks all occupations on any set of measures you choose, with the same values and the same arithmetic as this page.
Open the explorer with this selectionThis page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. RoleSprint has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Wage, education and outlook figures are reproduced from BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What to do next
These rankings describe occupations in general. The next question is whether a specific opening in one of them actually matches what you can show, and that is answered by comparing the posting with your resume.