Career
Fallers
Cut down trees for timber.
$52,100
Median pay
-9.9%
Job growth, 2025–35
500
Openings a year
High school diploma or equivalent
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
- Saw back-cuts, leaving sufficient sound wood to control direction of fall.
- Control the direction of a tree's fall by scoring cutting lines with axes, sawing undercuts along scored lines with chainsaws, knocking slabs from cuts with single-bit axes, and driving wedges.
- Stop saw engines, pull cutting bars from cuts, and run to safety as tree falls.
- Select trees to be cut down, assessing factors such as site, terrain, and weather conditions before beginning work.
- Measure felled trees and cut them into specified log lengths, using chain saws and axes.
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?
“Saw back-cuts, leaving sufficient sound wood to control direction of fall.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operation and Control, Operations Monitoring, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though moderate-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $52,100 a year and 500 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Tree Trimmers and Pruners$50,960 · +4.2%
- Logging Equipment Operators$49,740 · -3.8%
- Forest and Conservation Workers$43,680 · -1.5%
- Log Graders and Scalers$46,330 · -2.2%
- Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood$42,770 · -1.0%
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.