A maintenance worker, aka the handy-man, takes on the noble and constant struggle against decay. Working indoors or outdoors; on one site, such as a school, hospital, or office building, or at several locations; such as different buildings of a college campus, a maintenance worker's vigilant gaze will notice any sign of impairment and fix what is damaged.
Whether the problem is a broken window, faulty wiring, a burned-out lightbulb, peeling paint, or leaks, maintenance workers will be there to take care of it. They clean windows, mow the lawn, collect trash, and will be expected to perform preventive maintenance as well. They repair machines and mechanical equipment, too, so you might find yourself working at a manufacturing site or factory taking on this position.
According to statistical data, this is a position primarily filled by men, although this is not meant as a discouragement to all the aspiring handy-ladies out there. As housing prices increase and people tend to opt for remodeling rather than buying new, the demand for maintenance workers is growing as well.
Maintenance Worker Overview
Maintenance Worker Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a maintenance worker. For example, did you know that they make an average of $16.88 an hour? That's $35,103 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 85,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Maintenance Worker Do
There are certain skills that many maintenance workers 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 customer-service skills, dexterity and troubleshooting skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a maintenance worker, we found that a lot of resumes listed 14.5% of maintenance workers included facility, while 8.0% of resumes included general maintenance, and 6.1% of resumes included hand tools. 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 maintenance worker job title. But what industry to start with? Most maintenance workers actually find jobs in the hospitality and government industries.
How To Become a Maintenance Worker
If you're interested in becoming a maintenance worker, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 18.8% of maintenance workers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.1% of maintenance workers have master's degrees. Even though some maintenance workers 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 maintenance worker. When we researched the most common majors for a maintenance worker, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on maintenance worker resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a maintenance worker. In fact, many maintenance worker jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many maintenance workers also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or warehouse worker.
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Maintenance Worker 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 maintenance technician you might progress to a role such as foreman eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title project superintendent.
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Average Salary for a Maintenance Worker
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy Building Maintenance Worker Building Maintenance Worker | Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake & Sandy | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $34,91601/30/2021 $34,916 |
City of Billings Maintenance Worker-Collections Maintenance Worker-Collections | City of Billings City of Billings | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $37,21101/29/2021 $37,211 |
Adecco Staffing Maintenance Worker Maintenance Worker | Adecco Staffing Adecco Staffing | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $21,91401/29/2021 $21,914 |
Waco Healthcare and Rehabilitation Maintenance Worker Maintenance Worker | Waco Healthcare and Rehabilitation Waco Healthcare and Rehabilitation | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $20,87001/29/2021 $20,870 |
Peopleready Maintenance Worker Maintenance Worker | Peopleready Peopleready | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $31,30501/29/2021 $31,305 |
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Maintenance Worker 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 Maintenance Worker. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Maintenance Worker Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Maintenance Worker 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.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Maintenance Worker
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, 14.5% of maintenance workers listed facility on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and dexterity are important as well.
- Facility, 14.5%
- General Maintenance, 8.0%
- Hand Tools, 6.1%
- Building Maintenance, 4.8%
- Hvac, 4.2%
- Other Skills, 62.4% See All Maintenance Worker Skills
Best States For a Maintenance Worker
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a maintenance worker. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, California, Washington, and Nevada. Maintenance workers make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $52,982. Whereas in California and Washington, they would average $45,651 and $43,094, respectively. While maintenance workers would only make an average of $41,828 in Nevada, 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. Washington
$43,094
Avg. Salary
2. California
$45,651
Avg. Salary
3. Alaska
$52,982
Avg. Salary
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