---
title: "Floor Layer, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles"
description: "Apply blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing, sound-deadening, or decorative coverings to floors."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/floor-layer"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Floor Layer, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles

**Category:** Construction and Extraction · **SOC code:** 47-2042 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 47-2042.00

Apply blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing, sound-deadening, or decorative coverings to floors.

Also advertised as: Floor Covering Contractor; Floor Coverings Installer; Floor Installer; Floor Layer; Flooring Installer; Flooring Mechanic; Tile Installer; Tile Setter.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $56,460 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $27.15/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $37,600 to $96,700, with the middle half between $45,660 and $73,840
- **Total US employment:** 23,640
- **Typical entry education:** No formal credential
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +9.0% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 2,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 55/100 — 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 23,640 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $37,600 |
| 25th | $45,660 |
| 50th (median) | $56,460 |
| 75th | $73,840 |
| 90th | $96,700 |
| Mean (average) | $61,760 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AK | $92,860 | $90,720 | 70 |
| MA | $79,280 | $74,964 | 1,060 |
| HI | $77,280 | $70,286 | 210 |
| IL | $69,880 | $69,909 | 1,330 |
| NY | $61,360 | $56,856 | 880 |
| CA | $61,210 | $55,284 | 4,330 |
| PA | $60,050 | $61,544 | 720 |
| NJ | $59,840 | $54,997 | 700 |
| OH | $59,470 | $64,102 | 850 |
| MN | $59,380 | $60,210 | 490 |
| SD | $58,930 | $66,523 | 180 |
| NV | $58,540 | $58,552 | 560 |
| FL | $57,020 | $55,138 | 1,660 |
| WA | $56,800 | $53,078 | 370 |
| OR | $56,460 | $54,624 | 300 |

29 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 44 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/floor-layer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/floor-layer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 29,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 32,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,700 jobs, or +9.0%. Much faster than average: 9.0% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 2,200 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:** No formal educational credential (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:** Moderate-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 or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 89.5% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 5.7% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 4.4% |
| Some College Courses | 0.4% |

## What the work involves

- Cut covering and foundation materials, according to blueprints and sketches.
- Trim excess covering materials, tack edges, and join sections of covering material to form tight joint.
- Cut flooring material to fit around obstructions.
- Sweep, scrape, sand, or chip dirt and irregularities to clean base surfaces, correcting imperfections that may show through the covering.
- Measure and mark guidelines on surfaces or foundations, using chalk lines and dividers.
- Inspect surface to be covered to ensure that it is firm and dry.
- Form a smooth foundation by stapling plywood or Masonite over the floor or by brushing waterproof compound onto surface and filling cracks with plaster, putty, or grout to seal pores.
- Apply adhesive cement to floor or wall material to join and adhere foundation material.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.1 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.

- 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
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Building and Construction — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Extent Flexibility — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.1 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 | 3.68 |
| A — Artistic | 1.83 |
| S — Social | 1.56 |
| I — Investigative | 1.39 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.00 |

### 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 | 82.4 |
| ISTP | 73.1 |
| ISFJ | 72.8 |
| ESTJ | 67.9 |
| INTJ | 60.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Tile and Stone Setter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tile-and-stone-setter) — median $55,690
- [Carpet Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/carpet-installer) — median $50,340
- [Insulation Worker, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall](https://nuecareer.com/careers/insulation-worker-floor-ceiling-and-wall) — median $49,120
- [Floor Sander and Finisher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/floor-sander-and-finisher) — median $50,440
- [Terrazzo Worker and Finisher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/terrazzo-worker-and-finisher) — median $76,170
- [Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/drywall-and-ceiling-tile-installer) — median $58,930
- [Brickmason and Blockmason](https://nuecareer.com/careers/brickmason-and-blockmason) — median $62,120
- [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
- [Insulation Worker, Mechanical](https://nuecareer.com/careers/insulation-worker-mechanical) — median $58,340
- [Cement Mason and Concrete Finisher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cement-mason-and-concrete-finisher) — median $57,020

## 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/floor-layer