---
title: "Locksmith and Safe Repairer"
description: "Repair and open locks, make keys, change locks and safe combinations, and install and repair safes."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/locksmith-and-safe-repairer"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Locksmith and Safe Repairer

**Category:** Installation, Maintenance, and Repair · **SOC code:** 49-9094 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 49-9094.00

Repair and open locks, make keys, change locks and safe combinations, and install and repair safes.

Also advertised as: Certified Professional Safe Technician (CPS); CML (Certified Master Locksmith); CMS (Certified Master Safecracker); Forensic Locksmith; Lock Technician (Lock Tech); Locksmith; Road Service Locksmith; RST (Registered Safe Technician).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $51,320 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $24.68/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $35,530 to $79,400, with the middle half between $43,160 and $64,560
- **Total US employment:** 15,040
- **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:** -11.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 67/100 — 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 15,040 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $35,530 |
| 25th | $43,160 |
| 50th (median) | $51,320 |
| 75th | $64,560 |
| 90th | $79,400 |
| Mean (average) | $55,470 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $76,740 | $69,826 | Not published by BLS |
| CT | $69,280 | $66,866 | 120 |
| HI | $64,490 | $58,653 | 50 |
| DE | $63,640 | $63,762 | 50 |
| NY | $61,830 | $57,292 | 960 |
| CA | $61,010 | $55,103 | 2,060 |
| MD | $60,330 | $57,480 | 270 |
| MA | $59,420 | $56,185 | 300 |
| MN | $59,070 | $59,896 | 220 |
| AK | $58,390 | $57,044 | 80 |
| IL | $58,110 | $58,134 | 430 |
| WA | $58,010 | $54,208 | 380 |
| RI | $57,360 | $56,081 | 80 |
| NJ | $57,000 | $52,387 | 480 |
| WV | $56,690 | $63,343 | 50 |

34 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 49 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/locksmith-and-safe-repairer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/locksmith-and-safe-repairer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 18,700 in the 2025–2035 base year to 16,500 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 2,200 jobs, or -11.7%. Declining: -11.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,200 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:** 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 or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 61.5% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 15.4% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 7.7% |
| Some College Courses | 7.7% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 3.9% |
| First Professional Degree | 3.9% |

## What the work involves

- Cut new or duplicate keys, using impressions or code key machines.
- Insert new or repaired tumblers into locks to change combinations.
- Move picklocks in cylinders to open door locks without keys.
- Cut new or duplicate keys, using key cutting machines.
- Open safe locks by drilling.
- Set up and maintain master key systems.
- Install door hardware, such as locks and closers.
- Disassemble mechanical or electrical locking devices, and repair or replace worn tumblers, springs, and other parts, using hand tools.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- 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
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.6 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 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 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
- Installation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Finger Dexterity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Visualization — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — 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 | 6.09 |
| C — Conventional | 5.00 |
| I — Investigative | 2.11 |
| S — Social | 1.57 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.42 |
| A — Artistic | 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 | 91.3 |
| ISFJ | 79.5 |
| ESTJ | 77.1 |
| ISTP | 73.1 |
| INTJ | 63.3 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Mechanical Door Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechanical-door-repairer) — median $55,720
- [Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-installation-maintenance-and-repair-worker) — median $39,630
- [Elevator Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/elevator-installer) — median $109,910
- [Helpers--Electrician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-electrician) — median $42,670
- [Millwright](https://nuecareer.com/careers/millwright) — median $65,700
- [Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electric-motor-power-tool-and-related-repairer) — median $56,210
- [Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/security-and-fire-alarm-systems-installer) — median $60,070
- [Helpers--Pipelayer, Plumber, Pipefitter, and Steamfitter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/helpers-pipelayer-plumber-pipefitter-and-steamfitter) — median $42,360
- [Maintenance and Repair Worker, General](https://nuecareer.com/careers/maintenance-and-repair-worker-general) — median $49,590
- [Electronic Equipment Installer and Repairer, Motor Vehicles](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electronic-equipment-installer-and-repairer-motor-vehicles) — median $48,420

## 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/locksmith-and-safe-repairer