Career
Cleaners of vehicles and equipment
Clean vehicles and equipment.
$35,830
Median pay
+3.9%
Job growth, 2025–35
51,500
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Rinse objects and place them on drying racks or use cloth, squeegees, or air compressors to dry surfaces.
- Apply paints, dyes, polishes, reconditioners, waxes, or masking materials to vehicles to preserve, protect, or restore color or condition.
- Clean and polish vehicle windows.
- Drive vehicles to or from workshops or customers' workplaces or homes.
- Scrub, scrape, or spray machine parts, equipment, or vehicles, using scrapers, brushes, clothes, cleaners, disinfectants, insecticides, acid, abrasives, vacuums, or hoses.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Rinse objects and place them on drying racks or use cloth, squeegees, or air compressors to dry surfaces.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Quality Control Analysis, Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Time Management.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though short-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $35,830 a year and 51,500 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers$34,890 · +4.3%
- Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders$43,530 · +3.4%
- Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners$36,840 · +2.2%
- Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners$49,880 · +7.8%
- Maintenance Workers, Machinery$60,850 · -1.9%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.