Also called: Barrel Maker, Cooperage Worker
Builds wooden barrels for aging whiskey, wine and hot sauce.
You raise curved oak staves into a ring, bend them over a fire until they form the barrel shape, then char the inside with a roaring flame. Bourbon distilleries need millions of new barrels, so cooperages in Kentucky and Missouri are hiring.
Estimated from cooperage postings; master coopers earn more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
High school diploma, about 0 years after high school. High-school diploma; trained through a cooperage apprenticeship.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, On-the-job training. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Cooperage (apprenticeship).
Growing about average. No BLS projection; demand tracks the bourbon and wine industries.
Low risk for 10 years. Barrel making is skilled hand craft; whiskey demand keeps cooperages hiring apprentices.
Age 18+. One way to start: Apply at barrel cooperages or through a staffing agency; new hires are trained on the job
Classes: Woodshop class, Metals class.
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.