---
title: "Automotive Body and Related Repairer"
description: "Repair and refinish automotive vehicle bodies and straighten vehicle frames."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-body-and-related-repairer"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Automotive Body and Related Repairer

**Category:** Installation, Maintenance, and Repair · **SOC code:** 49-3021 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 49-3021.00

Repair and refinish automotive vehicle bodies and straighten vehicle frames.

Also advertised as: Auto Body Man; Auto Body Repair Technician (Auto Body Repair Tech); Auto Body Repairman; Automotive Body Technician (Auto Body Tech); Body Man; Body Technician (Body Tech); Collision Repair Technician (Collision Repair Tech); Collision Technician (Collision Tech).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $54,890 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $26.39/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $36,910 to $87,940, with the middle half between $45,750 and $69,200
- **Total US employment:** 149,310
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +1.6% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 14,600 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 58/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 149,310 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $36,910 |
| 25th | $45,750 |
| 50th (median) | $54,890 |
| 75th | $69,200 |
| 90th | $87,940 |
| Mean (average) | $59,690 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| RI | $72,490 | $70,874 | 800 |
| CA | $66,860 | $60,387 | 14,050 |
| DC | $62,640 | $56,997 | 30 |
| NJ | $62,400 | $57,350 | 3,720 |
| AK | $61,680 | $60,259 | 270 |
| MN | $60,970 | $61,823 | 2,910 |
| HI | $60,540 | $55,061 | 450 |
| MO | $60,540 | $66,662 | 4,350 |
| NV | $60,520 | $60,533 | 1,020 |
| OR | $60,000 | $58,049 | 1,660 |
| CO | $59,880 | $58,107 | 3,120 |
| MA | $59,300 | $56,072 | 3,060 |
| WA | $58,340 | $54,517 | 2,330 |
| CT | $58,220 | $56,191 | 1,850 |
| VA | $57,760 | $57,129 | 3,720 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-body-and-related-repairer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/automotive-body-and-related-repairer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 172,600 in the 2024–2034 base year to 175,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,800 jobs, or +1.6%. Slower than average: 1.6% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 14,600 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Long-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 42.0% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 34.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 23.4% |

## What the work involves

- Follow supervisors' instructions as to which parts to restore or replace and how much time the job should take.
- File, grind, sand, and smooth filled or repaired surfaces, using power tools and hand tools.
- Sand body areas to be painted and cover bumpers, windows, and trim with masking tape or paper to protect them from the paint.
- Position dolly blocks against surfaces of dented areas and beat opposite surfaces to remove dents, using hammers.
- Remove upholstery, accessories, electrical window-and-seat-operating equipment, and trim to gain access to vehicle bodies and fenders.
- Mix polyester resins and hardeners to be used in restoring damaged areas.
- Remove small pits and dimples in body metal, using pick hammers and punches.
- Remove damaged sections of vehicles using metal-cutting guns, air grinders and wrenches, and install replacement parts using wrenches or welding equipment.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Repairing — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Visualization — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 3.34 |
| I — Investigative | 1.60 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.45 |
| A — Artistic | 1.43 |
| S — Social | 1.06 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 84.4 |
| ISTP | 75.3 |
| ISFJ | 70.4 |
| ESTJ | 70.2 |
| INTJ | 63.1 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Automotive Service Technician and Mechanic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-service-technician-and-mechanic) — median $50,620
- [Rail Car Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rail-car-repairer) — median $67,530
- [Tire Builder](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tire-builder) — median $57,390
- [Aircraft Structure, Surface, Rigging, and Systems Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aircraft-structure-surface-rigging-and-systems-assembler) — median $65,380
- [Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electric-motor-power-tool-and-related-repairer) — median $56,210
- [Engine and Other Machine Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/engine-and-other-machine-assembler) — median $53,710
- [Grinding and Polishing Worker, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-and-polishing-worker-hand) — median $42,660
- [Motorcycle Mechanic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/motorcycle-mechanic) — median $48,580
- [Automotive Glass Installer and Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-glass-installer-and-repairer) — median $47,630
- [Bus and Truck Mechanic and Diesel Engine Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/bus-and-truck-mechanic-and-diesel-engine-specialist) — median $61,770

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank 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 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/automotive-body-and-related-repairer