All careersSkilled trades

Upholsterer

$46,340
median / year
$31,690 – $63,770
what most earn per year (10th–90th percentile)

What the job actually is

Strip, rebuild, and recover furniture, replacing padding, springs, and fabric to restore or redesign each piece.

You may also see this posted as: Box Spring Upholsterer, Upholstered Goods Crafter, Upholstery Cutter, Furniture Upholsterer, Inside Upholsterer, Sofa Back Upholsterer.

Where you work

Upholstery and furniture repair shops

The hours

Full time, regular business hours

The day to day

What you'd actually spend time doing

  • Fit, install, and secure material on frames, using hand tools, power tools, glue, cement, or staples.
  • Measure and cut new covering materials, using patterns and measuring and cutting instruments, following sketches and design specifications.
  • Build furniture up with loose fiber stuffing, cotton, felt, or foam padding to form smooth, rounded surfaces.
  • Make, restore, or create custom upholstered furniture, using hand tools and knowledge of fabrics and upholstery methods.
  • Read work orders, and apply knowledge and experience with materials to determine types and amounts of materials required to cover workpieces.

Good fit if you like…

Realistic

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

Artistic

creating, designing, performing, or working without a rigid script

Conventional

organizing information, following systems, and getting details right

O*NET job zone 2 of 5

Some preparation—often a high school credential and on-the-job learning—is usually needed.

Work styles that matter most

Attention to DetailDependabilityCautiousnessPerseverance

Software that shows up in the work

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

Autodesk AutoCADIntuit QuickBooksMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft Windows

By the numbers

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

Median pay
$46,340
per year
Hourly median
$22.28
per hour
What most earn
$31,690–$63,770
yearly, 10th to 90th percentile
Openings a year
~2,200
projected, 2024–34
Outlook to 2034
-1.8%
Declining
Working in the U.S.
20,140
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 9.2% 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

High school / no degree

Training path: On-the-job training after high school.

Related work experience: None.

On-the-job training: Moderate-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

SewingFabric workMeasuringAttention to detail

The honest take

Rebuilds and recovers the padding and fabric on furniture, a hands-on trade learned mostly on the job.

Standard Occupational Classification 51-6093. Pay and employment from the BLS May 2025 OEWS survey; outlook and openings from the 2024–34 employment projections; tasks, interests, work styles, software examples, and job zone from O*NET 30.3. See something off? Tell us.