All careersSkilled trades

Roustabout (Oil & Gas)

$47,510
median pay per year
full range coming in the next data update

What the job actually is

Do the general labor around oil and gas sites — moving equipment, digging, cleaning, and helping the rig crew.

Where you work

Oil and gas fields

The hours

Long shifts, remote rotations

By the numbers

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

Median pay
$47,510
per year
What most earn
range coming soon
Openings a year
~4,300
projected, 2024–34
Outlook to 2034
+2%
About average
Working in the U.S.
46,000
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

No formal credential

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

Physical staminaTeamworkEquipment handlingSafety

The honest take

Hard entry-level oilfield labor that pays without a diploma — the first rung toward drilling and rig work.

Standard Occupational Classification 47-5071. 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.