Occupation Codes (SOC) ​

The occupation field on createCardApplication* mutations is validated against the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) reference list. Free-text values are rejected.

This page documents:

• What the validator accepts
• How to look up the right value
• A downloadable JSON of all 912 codes
• Common examples grouped by category

Accepted formats ​

The validator accepts either of the following — matched after trimming, case-insensitive on description:

Both forms resolve to the same canonical record server-side. Anything else returns RAIN_API_ERROR / Invalid occupation: "<value>". Must be a valid SOC occupation description.

Full reference list ​

The complete list is available as a JSON file:

Download soc-occupations.json (912 entries, ~100 KB)

Each entry has the shape:

{
  "code": "15-1252",
  "description": "Software Developers",
  "category": "Computer and Mathematical"
}

The list is canonical — same in dev and production, regenerated from the upstream BLS taxonomy.

Common examples ​

A curated set of occupations partners ask about most often:

Categories ​

All 912 occupations fall under one of 23 SOC major groups:

Error response ​

If validation fails, the resolver returns suggestions in the GraphQL error payload — partial description matches against your input, ranked:

{
  "errors": [
    {
      "message": "Invalid occupation: \"Software Developer\". Must be a valid SOC occupation description.",
      "extensions": {
        "code": "CARD_API_ERROR",
        "suggestions": ["15-1252: Software Developers", "15-1241: Computer Network Architects", "15-1299: Computer Occupations, All Other"]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Use the suggestions to surface a "Did you mean…?" hint in your UI.

See also ​

• Applying for Cards — full mutation input reference
• Partner Card API — partner-specific endpoints
• Official BLS SOC site — upstream taxonomy