Career
Painting, coating, and decorating workers
Paint and decorate products.
$41,600
Median pay
+1.3%
Job growth, 2025–35
700
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
- Apply coatings, such as paint, ink, or lacquer, to protect or decorate workpiece surfaces, using spray guns, pens, or brushes.
- Examine finished surfaces of workpieces to verify conformance to specifications and retouch any defective areas.
- Clean and maintain tools and equipment, using solvents, brushes, and rags.
- Read job orders and inspect workpieces to determine work procedures and materials required.
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 creation & expression?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Apply coatings, such as paint, ink, or lacquer, to protect or decorate workpiece surfaces, using spray guns, pens, or brushes.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Monitoring, Coordination.
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 $41,600 a year and 700 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$48,250 · +2.5%
- Etchers and Engravers$43,310 · -0.7%
- Painters, Construction and Maintenance$49,400 · +3.0%
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic$46,170 · +5.8%
- Furniture Finishers$44,540 · -3.5%
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.