Career
Maintenance and repair workers, general
Fix whatever breaks in a building.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Perform routine maintenance, such as inspecting drives, motors, or belts, checking fluid levels, replacing filters, or doing other preventive maintenance actions.
- Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions.
- Adjust functional parts of devices or control instruments, using hand tools, levels, plumb bobs, or straightedges.
- Repair machines, equipment, or structures, using tools such as hammers, hoists, saws, drills, wrenches, or equipment such as precision measuring instruments or electrical or electronic testing devices.
- Order parts, supplies, or equipment from catalogs or suppliers.
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?
“Perform routine maintenance, such as inspecting drives, motors, or belts, checking fluid levels, replacing filters, or doing other preventive maintenance actions.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Equipment Maintenance, Repairing, Troubleshooting, Critical Thinking.
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 $49,590 a year and 148,700 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Building/Property MaintenanceCIP 46.0401
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Millwrights$65,700 · +0.9%
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers$65,380 · -5.6%
- Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters$63,800 · +6.8%
- Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers$39,630 · +5.3%
- Industrial Machinery Mechanics$64,520 · +17.8%
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.