---
title: "Superyacht Deckhand"
description: "Works on the exterior crew of a large private or charter yacht, keeping the vessel spotless, handling lines and tenders, and running water sports for…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/superyacht-deckhand"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Superyacht Deckhand

**Category:** Transportation and Material Moving · **SOC code:** 53-5011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 53-5011.00

Works on the exterior crew of a large private or charter yacht, keeping the vessel spotless, handling lines and tenders, and running water sports for guests.

Also advertised as: Yacht Deckhand; Lead Deckhand; Yacht Bosun; Junior Deckhand; Yacht Crew Deckhand.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $51,520 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $24.77/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $34,560 to $83,620, with the middle half between $41,430 and $67,590
- **Total US employment:** 31,670
- **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:** +3.2% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,600 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 31,670 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $34,560 |
| 25th | $41,430 |
| 50th (median) | $51,520 |
| 75th | $67,590 |
| 90th | $83,620 |
| Mean (average) | $56,830 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HI | $76,140 | $69,249 | 340 |
| NJ | $71,880 | $66,063 | 520 |
| OR | $70,410 | $68,120 | 210 |
| WA | $66,700 | $62,329 | 1,590 |
| AK | $63,130 | $61,675 | 480 |
| TN | $60,580 | $65,941 | 870 |
| DE | $60,040 | $60,155 | 80 |
| FL | $57,930 | $56,018 | 2,710 |
| MN | $56,680 | $57,473 | 90 |
| IN | $56,570 | $60,614 | 570 |
| TX | $55,610 | $57,296 | 4,270 |
| CA | $55,180 | $49,837 | 1,680 |
| NY | $54,210 | $50,231 | 1,570 |
| OH | $53,520 | $57,689 | 140 |
| MO | $51,940 | $57,192 | 220 |

21 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 36 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/superyacht-deckhand/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/superyacht-deckhand.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 33,000 in the 2025–2035 base year to 34,100 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 1,100 jobs, or +3.2%. About as fast as average: 3.2% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,600 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:** 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.

## What the work involves

- Wash, polish and maintain the yacht's exterior
- Varnish teak and touch up paintwork
- Handle lines and fenders when docking and anchoring
- Drive tenders and launch water sports equipment
- Stand navigation and anchor watches
- Assist guests with water activities and beach setups
- Maintain deck equipment and safety gear

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.4 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.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — 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
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Transportation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Geography — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Far Vision — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Perceptual Speed — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.8 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 | 6.97 |
| C — Conventional | 4.68 |
| I — Investigative | 2.62 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.41 |
| S — Social | 1.24 |
| 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 | 91.4 |
| ESTJ | 78.0 |
| ISTP | 76.1 |
| ISFJ | 74.0 |
| INTJ | 66.0 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Sailor and Marine Oiler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sailor-and-marine-oiler) — median $51,520
- [Captain, Mate, and Pilot of Water Vessels](https://nuecareer.com/careers/captain-mate-and-pilot-of-water-vessels) — median $92,460
- [Ship Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/ship-engineer) — median $109,530
- [Rigger](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rigger) — median $62,640
- [Motorboat Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/motorboat-operator) — median $47,520
- [Dredge Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/dredge-operator) — median $49,640
- [Hoist and Winch Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hoist-and-winch-operator) — median $56,450
- [Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operator and Locomotive Firer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/railroad-brake-signal-and-switch-operator-and-locomotive-firer) — median $68,840
- [Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loader](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tank-car-truck-and-ship-loader) — median $58,870
- [Operating Engineer and Other Construction Equipment Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/operating-engineer-and-other-construction-equipment-operator) — median $59,850

## 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/superyacht-deckhand