Carpenter
Also known as: Framer, Finish Carpenter, Construction Carpenter, Cabinetmaker
Build and repair structures, furniture, and frameworks using wood and other materials with precision craftsmanship.
Salary Range
The highest-paid specialization or seniority level for carpenters.
About 1 in 50 reaches this level
About 890K carpenters (BLS Employment Projections, SOC 47-2031, 2025); only ~2% (~19,200) become a GC clearing $200K+ net profit, which requires large-scale jobs and strong business skills.
Salary data based on 2025 BLS, Glassdoor, and industry reports. Actual compensation varies by location, experience, and employer.
How to Become One
Complete a 3–4 year carpentry apprenticeship or trade school program. Some states require contractor licensing.
For more information: United Brotherhood of Carpenters ↗
Cost to Qualify
You are paid from the first day and finish without student debt. First-year pay starts around $28,400 and steps up to roughly $46,000, reaching full journeyman scale by the end. Most programmes include classroom instruction; the Department of Labor says most let you avoid student debt, though it does not spell out who covers the tuition.
Sticker price, not what most people pay — scholarships, aid and in-state status all move it. Room and board is shown separately on each college's page.
AI Risk Assessment
Carpentry happens on real job sites that change every day: framing a house on uneven ground, fitting stairs and trim in an old building, fixing what the drawings got wrong. AI software can help with estimates and plans, but it can't hold a saw. On the rubric's main factor, how much of the daily work AI can do, carpentry scores very low.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects carpenter jobs to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, about average, with about 62,800 openings a year on a base of 889,700 jobs. BLS does name one real long-term pressure, and it isn't AI: more homes and buildings are made from parts built in factories (walls, roofs, even whole modules) and then assembled on site, which "reduces the need for carpenters to build new structures." Robots are the other thing to watch. An October 2025 McKinsey report, covered by Construction Dive, told builders to start planning for humanoid construction robots, but said today's robots only handle repetitive tasks in places that look the same every time, like staged interiors with identical layouts. The same article reports that the share of construction firms actively using robots fell from 65% to 46% in a year.
This stays at 1 because the evidence shows no sign of AI or robots doing real carpentry at scale within ten years. What would change the score: robots that can work on ordinary, messy job sites at a price builders will pay, or a much bigger shift to factory-built housing, which would cut site carpentry even without AI.
Sources
Ratings reflect a 10-year outlook based on 2025-2026 research, weighted toward entry-level impact. Individual outcomes will vary.
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