All careersSkilled trades

Motorcycle Mechanic

$48,580
median / year
$34,770 – $74,400
what most earn per year (10th–90th percentile)

What the job actually is

Diagnose, repair, and tune motorcycles, mopeds, and other small-engine vehicles.

You may also see this posted as: All Terrain Vehicle Technician (ATV Technician), Motorcycle Technician, Service Technician, Custom Bike Builder, Motorcycle Service Technician, Motorsports Technician.

Where you work

Repair shops and dealerships

The hours

Full-time, busier in warm months

The day to day

What you'd actually spend time doing

  • Mount, balance, change, or check condition or pressure of tires.
  • Replace defective parts, using hand tools, arbor presses, flexible power presses, or power tools.
  • Dismantle engines and repair or replace defective parts, such as magnetos, carburetors, or generators.
  • Connect test panels to engines and measure generator output, ignition timing, or other engine performance indicators.
  • Listen to engines, examine vehicle frames, or confer with customers to determine nature and extent of malfunction or damage.

Good fit if you like…

Realistic

working with tools, equipment, materials, or the physical world

Conventional

organizing information, following systems, and getting details right

Investigative

solving problems, analyzing evidence, and figuring out how things work

O*NET job zone 3 of 5

Medium preparation—often vocational training, an associate degree, or substantial experience—is usually needed.

Work styles that matter most

Attention to DetailDependabilityPerseveranceCautiousness

Software that shows up in the work

Examples employers report—not a checklist you must already know.

Apple iOSFacebookMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft WordAbbottSoft QuickFix

By the numbers

May 2025 BLS wage & employment data · 2024–34 BLS employment projections.

Median pay
$48,580
per year
Hourly median
$23.35
per hour
What most earn
$34,770–$74,400
yearly, 10th to 90th percentile
Openings a year
~1,500
projected, 2024–34
Outlook to 2034
+5.3%
Faster than average
Working in the U.S.
13,510
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.

BLS estimates 8% of workers in this occupation are self-employed.

What it pays in your state

Statewide medians are a better starting point than the national number. Your city and experience still matter.

BLS state wage tables

How you get in

Typical starting education

Certificate program

Training path: Certificate or on-the-job training.

Related work experience: None.

On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training.

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.

Check the path where you live

Licensing rules and available programs change by state. These federal tools take you to the current official listings.

What it takes

Engine repairDiagnosticsHand toolsCustomer service

The honest take

Repairs and tunes motorcycles and small engines, hands-on work you can start without a degree.

Standard Occupational Classification 49-3052. Pay and employment from the BLS May 2025 OEWS survey; outlook and openings from the 2024–34 employment projections; job context from the Occupational Outlook Handbook; tasks, interests, work styles, software examples, and job zone from O*NET 30.3. See something off? Tell us.