Texas ranks 9th for jobs most exposed to AI, and Austin sits in the crosshairs

AUSTIN — Texas ranks ninth among U.S. states for the share of jobs most exposed to disruption from artificial intelligence, according to a new SmartAsset analysis, a finding that lands hardest in tech-heavy metros like Austin.

The report estimated the percentage of each state's workforce employed in the 26 occupations with the highest AI exposure, drawing on research from Virginia's Economic Information and Analytics Division. In Texas, roughly 500,000 workers — about 3.55 percent of the workforce — hold jobs in those high-exposure categories.

The most exposed occupations nationally include mathematicians, proofreaders, court reporters and correspondence clerks, followed by computer programmers, database administrators and web developers. Software developers, quality-assurance analysts, writers, payroll clerks and bookkeeping staff also rank among the most vulnerable. Washington topped the list, driven by its concentration of large technology employers; Mississippi ranked last.

Why it matters

Austin has spent years recruiting exactly the kinds of jobs the report flags as most exposed — software, data and technical roles that anchor its economy. The same density that makes the city attractive to employers also makes its workforce more sensitive to how quickly AI reshapes those roles, whether through automation, softer hiring or downward wage pressure.

Exposure is not destiny; a role changing is not the same as a role vanishing, and a separate SmartAsset study found about a fifth of Texas workers already use AI in some form on the job. But the ranking is a useful gut check for a city whose identity is bound up in the industry building the technology. The workers most likely to feel the disruption first are, in many cases, the ones writing the code.