Career
Log graders and scalers
Measure and grade logs.
$46,330
Median pay
-2.2%
Job growth, 2025–35
600
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
- Evaluate log characteristics and determine grades, using established criteria.
- Record data about individual trees or load volumes into tally books or hand-held collection terminals.
- Measure felled logs or loads of pulpwood to calculate volume, weight, dimensions, and marketable value, using measuring devices and conversion tables.
- Paint identification marks of specified colors on logs to identify grades or species, using spray cans, or call out grades to log markers.
- Jab logs with metal ends of scale sticks, and inspect logs to ascertain characteristics or defects such as water damage, splits, knots, broken ends, rotten areas, twists, and curves.
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 information & systems, then objects & tools?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Evaluate log characteristics and determine grades, using established criteria.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Speaking, 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 $46,330 a year and 600 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping$46,380 · -4.8%
- Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers$48,570 · +2.5%
- Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products$35,730 · -3.4%
- Logging Equipment Operators$49,740 · -3.8%
- Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand$40,240 · +1.8%
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.