Career
Floor sanders and finishers
Sand and finish wood floors.
$50,440
Median pay
+1.4%
Job growth, 2025–35
300
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
- Buff and vacuum floors to ensure their cleanliness prior to the application of finish.
- Scrape and sand floor edges and areas inaccessible to floor sanders, using scrapers, disk-type sanders, and sandpaper.
- Inspect floors for smoothness.
- Attach sandpaper to rollers of sanding machines.
- Guide sanding machines over surfaces of floors until surfaces are smooth.
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?
“Buff and vacuum floors to ensure their cleanliness prior to the application of finish.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operation and Control, Coordination, Active Listening, Time Management.
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 $50,440 a year and 300 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Carpet, Floor, and Tile WorkerCIP 46.0413
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles$56,460 · +9.0%
- Furniture Finishers$44,540 · -3.5%
- Carpet Installers$50,340 · -16.4%
- Terrazzo Workers and Finishers$76,170 · -13.0%
- Tile and Stone Setters$55,690 · +9.8%
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.