---
title: "Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Worker"
description: "Position and secure steel bars or mesh in concrete forms in order to reinforce concrete. Use a variety of fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/reinforcing-iron-and-rebar-worker"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Worker

**Category:** Construction and Extraction · **SOC code:** 47-2171 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 47-2171.00

Position and secure steel bars or mesh in concrete forms in order to reinforce concrete. Use a variety of fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, and hand tools. Includes rod busters.

Also advertised as: Field Ironworker; Iron Installer; Iron Worker; Ironworker; Ironworker Journeyman; Ironworker Laborer; Reinforced Ironworker; Rod Buster.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $58,970 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $28.35/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $43,310 to $104,540, with the middle half between $47,990 and $77,320
- **Total US employment:** 13,800
- **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:** -5.3% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 1,000 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 69/100 — 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 13,800 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $43,310 |
| 25th | $47,990 |
| 50th (median) | $58,970 |
| 75th | $77,320 |
| 90th | $104,540 |
| Mean (average) | $66,060 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WI | $121,620 | $129,252 | 50 |
| NJ | $116,110 | $106,714 | Not published by BLS |
| WA | $108,970 | $101,829 | 130 |
| IL | $105,580 | $105,624 | Not published by BLS |
| NV | $102,130 | $102,151 | 460 |
| NY | $98,040 | $90,844 | 1,110 |
| OR | $93,490 | $90,450 | 240 |
| MI | $91,220 | $94,807 | Not published by BLS |
| PA | $74,670 | $76,528 | Not published by BLS |
| LA | $70,700 | $80,152 | 130 |
| KY | $66,830 | $74,125 | 40 |
| IN | $64,650 | $69,271 | 70 |
| CA | $63,110 | $57,000 | 2,390 |
| NE | $62,920 | $69,831 | 230 |
| MD | $61,640 | $58,728 | Not published by BLS |

20 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 35 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/reinforcing-iron-and-rebar-worker/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/reinforcing-iron-and-rebar-worker.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 16,600 in the 2025–2035 base year to 15,700 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 900 jobs, or -5.3%. Declining: -5.3% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 1,000 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.

## What the work involves

- Position and secure steel bars, rods, cables, or mesh in concrete forms, using fasteners, rod-bending machines, blowtorches, or hand tools.
- Determine quantities, sizes, shapes, and locations of reinforcing rods from blueprints, sketches, or oral instructions.
- Space and fasten together rods in forms according to blueprints, using wire and pliers.
- Use forklifts or cranes to move construction material, such as rebar.
- Cut and fit wire mesh or fabric, using hooked rods, and position fabric or mesh in concrete to reinforce concrete.
- Unload rebar from trucks.
- Bend steel rods with hand tools or rod-bending machines and weld them with arc-welding equipment.
- Cut rods to required lengths, using metal shears, hacksaws, bar cutters, or acetylene torches.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — 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.

- Coordination — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — 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
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Building and Construction — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Static Strength — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Trunk Strength — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Extent Flexibility — 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 | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 3.50 |
| I — Investigative | 2.18 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.33 |
| S — Social | 1.20 |
| A — Artistic | 1.12 |

### 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 | 86.9 |
| ISTP | 77.3 |
| ISFJ | 71.6 |
| ESTJ | 71.0 |
| INTJ | 65.3 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Structural Iron and Steel Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/structural-iron-and-steel-worker) — median $62,780
- [Structural Metal Fabricator and Fitter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/structural-metal-fabricator-and-fitter) — median $51,330
- [Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/drywall-and-ceiling-tile-installer) — median $58,930
- [Cement Mason and Concrete Finisher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cement-mason-and-concrete-finisher) — median $57,020
- [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
- [Carpenter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/carpenter) — median $60,580
- [Layout Worker, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/layout-worker-metal-and-plastic) — median $63,870
- [Construction Laborer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-laborer) — median $47,120
- [Fence Erector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fence-erector) — median $47,980

## 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/reinforcing-iron-and-rebar-worker