Also called: Industrial Bridge Painter, Steel Structure Painter
Blasts old paint off huge steel bridges and repaints them while hanging high above water and traffic.
Bridge painters wear harnesses inside enclosed scaffolds, sandblast rust, spray protective coatings, and work hundreds of feet up. The Golden Gate Bridge has its own full-time paint crew.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Apprenticeship, about 3 years after high school. Painters union apprenticeship plus coating certifications.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, Certification. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Industrial Painting (apprenticeship).
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years). BLS 2025-35 projection band for SOC 47-2141: Average (3% to 4%).
Low risk for 10 years. Robotic blasting is being tested, but working in harnesses inside scaffolds hundreds of feet up stays a human trade.
Classes: Shop class, Chemistry, PE/weight training, Art.
Official data: O*NET occupation 47-2141.
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.