All careersSkilled trades

Highway Maintenance Worker

$49,070
median pay per year
full range coming in the next data update

What the job actually is

Repair roads, patch potholes, clear debris and snow, and maintain signs and guardrails along highways.

Where you work

Highways and roadsides, outdoors

The hours

Shifts including nights, storms, and weekends

By the numbers

May 2024–25 BLS wage data · 2024–34 BLS employment projections.

Median pay
$49,070
per year
What most earn
range coming soon
Openings a year
~12,300
projected, 2024–34
Outlook to 2034
+3%
About average
Working in the U.S.
159,100
people, nationwide

Openings a year counts new jobs plus the ones that open when people retire or move on — a truer picture of your odds than growth alone.

“Median” means half earn more and half earn less. Your city, employer, and years on the job move it a lot — that is what the 10th-to-90th range shows.

How you get in

Typical starting education

High school / no degree

Training path: On-the-job training, paid.

License or certification

No license required to start in most places.

You can earn while you train. This field has a genuinely paid pathway in — an apprenticeship, a paid academy, or employer-funded training — so you draw a paycheck instead of taking on debt to learn it.

What it takes

Equipment operationPhysical staminaSafety awarenessTeamwork

The honest take

Keeps roads safe and clear year-round — steady public-sector work, outdoors in every kind of weather.

Standard Occupational Classification 47-4051. Pay, employment, and outlook from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS wage survey and 2024–34 employment projections). See something off? Tell us.