How much wood would a carpenter.. Wait, that's not how that goes. Speaking of carpenter's though, they do cut a lot of wood. That's how they're able to construct, repair and install building frameworks.
With only a high school diploma, you could be making an average of $48,330 a year by becoming a carpenter. The range of projects they work on range from installing kitchen cabinets to building highways and bridges.
Carpenter Overview
Carpenter Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a carpenter. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.08 an hour? That's $41,758 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 80,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Carpenter Do
There are certain skills that many carpenters have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed business skills, detail oriented and dexterity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a carpenter, we found that a lot of resumes listed 20.8% of carpenters included hand tools, while 8.2% of resumes included windows, and 7.8% of resumes included safety rules. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the carpenter job title. But what industry to start with? Most carpenters actually find jobs in the construction and professional industries.
How To Become a Carpenter
If you're interested in becoming a carpenter, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 16.3% of carpenters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.2% of carpenters have master's degrees. Even though some carpenters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a carpenter. When we researched the most common majors for a carpenter, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on carpenter resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a carpenter. In fact, many carpenter jobs require experience in a role such as foreman. Meanwhile, many carpenters also have previous career experience in roles such as cashier or carpenter/labour.
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Carpenter Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of foreman you might progress to a role such as superintendent eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title project superintendent.
Carpenter
Project Superintendent
10 Years
Construction Manager
9 Years
General Superintendent
11 Years
Contract Project Manager
10 Years
Maintenance Director
11 Years
Director Of Facilities
11 Years
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What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Carpenter
Carpenters in America make an average salary of $41,758 per year or $20 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $52,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $33,000 per year.
Average Salary
$41,758
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Drifter Vans Carpenter Carpenter | Drifter Vans Drifter Vans | 03/31/2021 03/31/2021 | $41,74003/31/2021 $41,740 |
School District of Springfield Carpenter Carpenter | School District of Springfield School District of Springfield | 03/31/2021 03/31/2021 | $43,72303/31/2021 $43,723 |
School District of Springfield Township Montgomery County Pa Carpenter Carpenter | School District of Springfield Township Montgomery County Pa School District of Springfield Township Montgomery County Pa | 03/31/2021 03/31/2021 | $43,72303/31/2021 $43,723 |
Aerotek Carpenter Carpenter | Aerotek Aerotek | 03/30/2021 03/30/2021 | $45,91403/30/2021 $45,914 |
FJC Personnel LLC Carpenter-MON-FRI Carpenter-MON-FRI | FJC Personnel LLC FJC Personnel LLC | 03/30/2021 03/30/2021 | $31,30503/30/2021 $31,305 |
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Carpenter Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Carpenter. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
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Learn How To Write a Carpenter Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Carpenter resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
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Part Time
Internship
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Top Skills For a Carpenter
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 20.8% of carpenters listed hand tools on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and detail oriented are important as well.
- Hand Tools, 20.8%
- Windows, 8.2%
- Safety Rules, 7.8%
- General Carpentry, 6.8%
- Door Frames, 6.6%
- Other Skills, 49.8% See All Carpenter Skills
Best States For a Carpenter
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a carpenter. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Alaska, Washington, and New York. Carpenters make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $61,678. Whereas in Alaska and Washington, they would average $56,898 and $55,986, respectively. While carpenters would only make an average of $55,570 in New York, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
Total Carpenter Jobs:
54
Highest 10% Earn:
$69,000
Location Quotient:
2.21
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$56,898
Avg. Salary
2. Connecticut
Total Carpenter Jobs:
128
Highest 10% Earn:
$76,000
Location Quotient:
1.32
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$54,836
Avg. Salary
3. Washington
Total Carpenter Jobs:
223
Highest 10% Earn:
$77,000
Location Quotient:
1.05
Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
$55,986
Avg. Salary
How Do Carpenter Rate Their Jobs?
5.0
Carpentry • July 2019
5.0
Carpentry • July 2019What do you like the most about working as Carpenter?
Satisfying work that you can see and measure everyday. Generally clean work and a safe work environment. Show MoreTop Carpenter Employers
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Training for a Career as a Union Carpenter