Also called: Hand-Lettering Artist, Sign Writer
Hand-paints lettering and designs on storefront windows, trucks, walls, and wooden signs.
A sign painter steadies a brush on a mahl stick and paints gold-leaf letters on a shop window, backwards, from the inside. Other days it's a brewery wall or a vintage-style truck door. The craft nearly died out but is making a comeback.
Estimate; established hand-lettering artists charge premium prices.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Apprenticeship, about 1 year after high school. Learned through apprenticeship, workshops, or self-teaching; very few schools still teach it.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, Self-taught. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Graphic Design, Fine Arts.
Growing slowly. Small revival driven by demand for handmade, local looks.
Low risk for 10 years. Vinyl and printing compete on price, but customers pay for handmade lettering; AI cannot hold the brush.
Classes: Art and lettering, Graphic design, Business.
Official data: O*NET occupation 27-1024.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.