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Carpenters

Construction Trades

Carpenters graduates with a undergrad cert typically earned about $42,052, measured a few years after finishing (median across US programs, College Scorecard).
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Median earnings by degree level

Earnings range across schools, by degree levelEach row is a degree level: the bar is the middle half of schools' program medians (25th to 75th percentile) and the dot is the overall median. Certificate median $42,052, $35,342 to $45,116; Associate's median $47,504, $45,480 to $58,293.$35k$47k$58kCertificate$42,052Associate's$47,504
Earnings range across schools, by degree levelEach row is a degree level: the bar is the middle half of schools' program medians (25th to 75th percentile) and the dot is the overall median. Certificate median $42,052, $35,342 to $45,116; Associate's median $47,504, $45,480 to $58,293.$35k$47k$58kCertificate$42,052Associate's$47,504
DegreeMedian earningsTypical rangeSchoolsClear the bar
Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma$42,052$35,342 to $45,1161573%
Associate's Degree$47,504$45,480 to $58,2936100%

"Clear the bar" is the share of programs whose graduates out-earn a typical high-school graduate (the federal earnings-premium test). Typical range is the 25th to 75th percentile of program medians.

Job outlook

Projected employment growth +4% (2025 to 2035), about 129,800 openings a year across the occupations this field commonly leads to.

OccupationMedian payGrowthOpenings/yr
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers$79,920+5%67,000
Carpenters$60,580+3.9%62,800

Occupation pay and outlook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS wages, Employment Projections). A field maps to several occupations, and the same occupations serve many majors, so these are the jobs this major commonly leads to, not positions reserved for its graduates; the openings should not be added up across majors.

Where this is studied

The 8 colleges where the most students complete a carpenters program, of 203 that report one. Ordered by number of completions only: this is where people study it, not a judgement about where to.

Earnings source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (release 2026-06-10), median earnings of graduates measured up to four years after completing. Figures describe past graduates and are never a promise. Method: methodology. Report an error.