How To Become A Material Damage Appraiser: What It Is and Career Path

What is a material damage appraiser and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a material damage appraiser. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.16 an hour? That's $50,261 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -6% and produce -19,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMaterial Damage AppraiserUS Average

Salary

3.9

Avg. Salary $50,261

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.4

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.50%

Asian 5.13%

Black or African American 10.74%

Hispanic or Latino 16.47%

Unknown 4.39%

White 62.76%

Gender

female 17.39%

male 82.61%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.9

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.5

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a material damage appraiser

Explore material damage appraiser education requirements

Most common material damage appraiser degrees

Bachelor's

60.9 %

Associate

24.6 %

High School Diploma

11.6 %

Start to develop specific material damage appraiser skills

Skills	Percentages
Repair Costs	19.72%
Damage Estimates	17.36%
Claims System	12.97%
Damage Appraisals	10.16%
Vehicle Repairs	10.00%

Complete relevant material damage appraiser training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New material damage appraisers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a material damage appraiser based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real material damage appraiser resumes.

Research material damage appraiser duties and responsibilities

Provide detailed written reviews of residential properties ensuring USPAP guidelines, federal regulatory requirements and lender appraisal guidelines are met.
Handle all problems including arbitration, responses to the DOI, and small claims suits.
Analyze damages of automobiles, rv, atv, snowmobiles, jet ski, campers and property damages.

Prepare your material damage appraiser resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your material damage appraiser resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a material damage appraiser resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable material damage appraiser resume templates

Build a professional material damage appraiser resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your material damage appraiser resume.