--- title: "Key Grip" description: "Leads the grip department on film and TV sets, rigging camera support, dollies and the equipment that shapes and blocks light." canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/key-grip" last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z" --- # Key Grip **Category:** Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · **SOC code:** 27-4015 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 27-4015.00 Leads the grip department on film and TV sets, rigging camera support, dollies and the equipment that shapes and blocks light. Also advertised as: Grip; Best Boy Grip; Dolly Grip; Rigging Grip; Company Grip. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $68,060 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $32.72/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $42,310 to $130,760, with the middle half between $52,770 and $95,640 - **Total US employment:** 8,900 - **Typical entry education:** Certificate - **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** -4.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035) - **Annual job openings:** 600 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** not scored for this occupation ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 8,900 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $42,310 | | 25th | $52,770 | | 50th (median) | $68,060 | | 75th | $95,640 | | 90th | $130,760 | | Mean (average) | $78,380 | ### 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | WA | $126,100 | $117,836 | 80 | | CA | $94,070 | $84,962 | 2,950 | | NJ | $87,550 | $80,465 | 340 | | NY | $78,000 | $72,275 | 780 | | CT | $72,450 | $69,926 | 80 | | GA | $70,150 | $72,851 | 260 | | OK | $67,110 | $76,398 | 60 | | LA | $66,840 | $75,776 | 40 | | FL | $62,190 | $60,137 | 600 | | NV | $61,250 | $61,263 | 390 | | TN | $60,870 | $66,257 | 280 | | VA | $60,340 | $59,681 | 190 | | MI | $60,210 | $62,577 | 230 | | MA | $60,110 | $56,838 | Not published by BLS | | OR | $57,900 | $56,017 | 180 | 13 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 28 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/key-grip/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/key-grip. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 9,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 9,400 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 500 jobs, or -4.8%. Declining: -4.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 600 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:** Postsecondary nondegree award (BLS Employment Projections). - **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed". - **Related work experience typically required:** None. - **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training. ## What the work involves - Plan rigging and light-shaping setups with the cinematographer - Set flags, silks, nets and overhead frames - Mount cameras on dollies, cranes and vehicles - Lay dolly track and level it for smooth moves - Direct the grip crew and assign tasks - Inspect rigging for safety and load limits - Order and maintain grip equipment ## 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), Artistic (A). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | R — Realistic | 6.99 | | C — Conventional | 4.79 | | A — Artistic | 3.40 | | I — Investigative | 2.02 | | E — Enterprising | 1.95 | | S — Social | 1.24 | ### 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 | 83.0 | | ISTP | 74.5 | | ISFJ | 69.4 | | ESTJ | 66.5 | | INTJ | 65.7 | Best-fitting types: ISTJ. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Lighting Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/lighting-technician) — median $68,060 - [Electrician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrician) — median $63,190 - [Electrical and Electronics Installer and Repairer, Transportation Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-installer-and-repairer-transportation-equipment) — median $84,890 - [Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronic-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $78,190 - [Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronic-equipment-assembler) — median $45,930 - [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Commercial and Industrial Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-commercial-and-industrial-equipment) — median $74,090 - [Helpers--Electrician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-electrician) — median $42,670 - [Avionics Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/avionics-technician) — median $82,280 - [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-powerhouse-substation-and-relay) — median $103,020 - [Maintenance and Repair Worker, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/maintenance-and-repair-worker-general) — median $49,590 ## 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/ - **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/key-grip