---
title: "Carpenter"
description: "Construct, erect, install, or repair structures and fixtures made of wood and comparable materials, such as concrete forms; building frameworks…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/carpenter"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Carpenter

**Category:** Construction and Extraction · **SOC code:** 47-2031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 47-2031.00

Construct, erect, install, or repair structures and fixtures made of wood and comparable materials, such as concrete forms; building frameworks, including partitions, joists, studding, and rafters; and wood stairways, window and door frames, and hardwood floors. May also install cabinets, siding, drywall, and batt or roll insulation. Includes brattice builders who build doors or brattices (ventilation walls or partitions) in underground passageways.

Also advertised as: Bridge Carpenter; Cabinet Maker; Carpentry Construction Specialist; Concrete Carpenter; Construction Carpenter; Finish Carpenter; Form Carpenter; Maintenance Carpenter.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $60,580 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $29.12/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $40,410 to $99,910, with the middle half between $48,510 and $76,830
- **Total US employment:** 670,090
- **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:** +3.9% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 62,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 62/100 — 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 670,090 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $40,410 |
| 25th | $48,510 |
| 50th (median) | $60,580 |
| 75th | $76,830 |
| 90th | $99,910 |
| Mean (average) | $65,630 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HI | $85,280 | $77,562 | 4,810 |
| IL | $79,000 | $79,033 | 19,570 |
| CA | $75,920 | $68,569 | 100,750 |
| MA | $75,200 | $71,106 | 18,540 |
| WA | $74,190 | $69,328 | 26,960 |
| AK | $73,860 | $72,158 | 2,560 |
| NY | $72,330 | $67,021 | 40,630 |
| MN | $64,930 | $65,838 | 14,930 |
| CT | $64,060 | $61,828 | 5,160 |
| NJ | $64,010 | $58,830 | 14,230 |
| MD | $62,960 | $59,985 | 9,770 |
| IN | $62,870 | $67,364 | 15,240 |
| OR | $62,870 | $60,826 | 15,110 |
| CO | $62,830 | $60,969 | 12,740 |
| VT | $62,400 | $63,701 | 3,080 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/carpenter/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/carpenter.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 889,700 in the 2025–2035 base year to 924,700 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 35,000 jobs, or +3.9%. About as fast as average: 3.9% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 62,800 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## 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:** Apprenticeship.

### 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 or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 52.4% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 21.5% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 17.7% |
| Some College Courses | 8.4% |

## What the work involves

- Measure and mark cutting lines on materials, using a ruler, pencil, chalk, and marking gauge.
- Follow established safety rules and regulations and maintain a safe and clean environment.
- Shape or cut materials to specified measurements, using hand tools, machines, or power saws.
- Select and order lumber or other required materials.
- Install structures or fixtures, such as windows, frames, floorings, trim, or hardware, using carpenters' hand or power tools.
- Verify trueness of structure, using plumb bob and level.
- Build or repair cabinets, doors, frameworks, floors, or other wooden fixtures used in buildings, using woodworking machines, carpenter's hand tools, or power tools.
- Remove damaged or defective parts or sections of structures and repair or replace, using hand tools.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.9 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.

- Coordination — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Building and Construction — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Visualization — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Finger Dexterity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.5 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 | 6.75 |
| C — Conventional | 3.46 |
| A — Artistic | 2.18 |
| I — Investigative | 1.91 |
| S — Social | 1.90 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.79 |

### 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 | 81.6 |
| ISTP | 73.6 |
| ISFJ | 70.4 |
| ESTJ | 67.9 |
| INTJ | 60.9 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/drywall-and-ceiling-tile-installer) — median $58,930
- [Structural Iron and Steel Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/structural-iron-and-steel-worker) — median $62,780
- [Brickmason and Blockmason](https://nuecareer.com/careers/brickmason-and-blockmason) — median $62,120
- [Sheet Metal Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sheet-metal-worker) — median $61,800
- [Structural Metal Fabricator and Fitter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/structural-metal-fabricator-and-fitter) — median $51,330
- [Cabinetmaker and Bench Carpenter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cabinetmaker-and-bench-carpenter) — median $46,680
- [Layout Worker, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/layout-worker-metal-and-plastic) — median $63,870
- [Helpers--Carpenter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-carpenter) — median $43,780
- [Helpers--Brickmason, Blockmason, Stonemason, and Tile and Marble Setter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-brickmason-blockmason-stonemason-and-tile-and-marble-setter) — median $47,550
- [Construction Laborer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-laborer) — median $47,120

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 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, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 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 31.0 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/carpenter