---
title: "Septic Tank Servicer and Sewer Pipe Cleaner"
description: "Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or drains. May patch walls and partitions of tank, replace damaged drain tile, or repair breaks in…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/septic-tank-servicer-and-sewer-pipe-cleaner"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Septic Tank Servicer and Sewer Pipe Cleaner

**Category:** Construction and Extraction · **SOC code:** 47-4071 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 47-4071.00

Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or drains. May patch walls and partitions of tank, replace damaged drain tile, or repair breaks in underground piping.

Also advertised as: Drain Cleaner; Drain Technician; Public Works Technician; Septic Cleaner; Septic Pump Truck Driver; Septic Tank Service Technician; Service Technician; Sewer Bricklayer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $49,880 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.98/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $37,040 to $73,490, with the middle half between $43,530 and $61,060
- **Total US employment:** 30,650
- **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:** +7.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 2,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 63/100 — 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 30,650 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $37,040 |
| 25th | $43,530 |
| 50th (median) | $49,880 |
| 75th | $61,060 |
| 90th | $73,490 |
| Mean (average) | $53,500 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NE | $66,890 | $74,237 | 300 |
| NJ | $64,650 | $59,418 | 220 |
| NH | $64,590 | $62,007 | 310 |
| WA | $63,090 | $58,955 | 1,600 |
| MN | $62,190 | $63,060 | 240 |
| CT | $60,700 | $58,585 | 280 |
| NV | $60,180 | $60,193 | 220 |
| IA | $57,980 | $66,065 | 630 |
| OR | $57,920 | $56,037 | 560 |
| AK | $57,720 | $56,390 | 280 |
| WI | $57,340 | $60,938 | 1,050 |
| MT | $56,860 | $60,077 | 290 |
| MD | $56,410 | $53,745 | 160 |
| CA | $55,220 | $49,874 | 3,130 |
| NY | $55,220 | $51,167 | 1,550 |

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

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 31,900 in the 2025–2035 base year to 34,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 2,500 jobs, or +7.8%. Much faster than average: 7.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 2,800 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:** 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) | 40.4% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 37.1% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 22.1% |
| Some College Courses | 0.3% |

## What the work involves

- Drive trucks to transport crews, materials, and equipment.
- Communicate with supervisors and other workers, using equipment such as wireless phones, pagers, or radio telephones.
- Service, adjust, and make minor repairs to equipment, machines, and attachments.
- Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or related structures such as manholes, culverts, and catch basins.
- Dig out sewer lines manually, using shovels.
- Operate sewer cleaning equipment, including power rodders, high-velocity water jets, sewer flushers, bucket machines, wayne balls, and vac-alls.
- Inspect manholes to locate sewer line stoppages.
- Locate problems, using specially designed equipment, and mark where digging must occur to reach damaged tanks or pipes.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — 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 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.5 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.

- Operation and Control — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Flexibility of Closure — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — 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 | 4.26 |
| I — Investigative | 2.07 |
| S — Social | 1.45 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.19 |
| 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 | 88.5 |
| ISFJ | 75.6 |
| ISTP | 75.4 |
| ESTJ | 73.2 |
| INTJ | 63.7 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Plumber](https://nuecareer.com/careers/plumber) — median $63,800
- [Pipelayer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pipelayer) — median $49,000
- [Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-and-wastewater-treatment-plant-and-system-operator) — median $60,020
- [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
- [Cleaner of Vehicles and Equipment](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cleaner-of-vehicles-and-equipment) — median $35,830
- [Construction Laborer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-laborer) — median $47,120
- [Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator) — median $59,850
- [Pump Operator, Except Wellhead Pumpers](https://nuecareer.com/careers/pump-operator) — median $61,770
- [Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operator, Surface Mining](https://nuecareer.com/careers/excavating-and-loading-machine-and-dragline-operator-surface-mining) — median $57,430

## 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/septic-tank-servicer-and-sewer-pipe-cleaner