How To Become A Rural Route Carrier: What It Is and Career Path

What is a rural route carrier and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a rural route carrier. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.1 an hour? That's $41,800 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -6% and produce -29,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreRural Route CarrierUS Average

Salary

3.3

Avg. Salary $41,800

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.8

Growth rate -6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.56%

Asian 6.17%

Black or African American 11.11%

Hispanic or Latino 14.98%

Unknown 4.30%

White 62.88%

Gender

female 62.23%

male 37.77%

Age - 51

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 - 51

Stress level

5.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a rural route carrier

Explore rural route carrier education requirements

Most common rural route carrier degrees

Bachelor's

29.5 %

Associate

28.7 %

High School Diploma

26.2 %

Start to develop specific rural route carrier skills

Skills	Percentages
Delivery Sequence	36.10%
Customer Service	21.65%
Mail Delivery	12.70%
Postal Service	6.41%
Mail Security	4.36%

Complete relevant rural route carrier training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New rural route carriers 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 rural route carrier based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real rural route carrier resumes.

Research rural route carrier duties and responsibilities

Manage problems, conduct RCA investigations and deliver completed documentation.
Deliver daily newspapers to customers in the community.
Save driving record with USPS vehicles.
Deliver mail and packages per set route while operating USPS vehicles to safety and legal standards.

Prepare your rural route carrier resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your rural route carrier 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 rural route carrier resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable rural route carrier resume templates

Build a professional rural route carrier 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 rural route carrier resume.