Sheet Metal Workers
Fabricate, assemble, install, and repair sheet metal products and equipment, such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes, and furnace casings. Work may involve any of the following: setting up and operating fabricating machines to cut, bend, and straighten sheet metal; shaping metal over anvils, blocks, or forms using hammer; operating soldering and welding equipment to join sheet metal parts; or inspecting, assembling, and smoothing seams and joints of burred surfaces. Includes sheet metal duct installers who install prefabricated sheet metal ducts used for heating, air conditioning, or other purposes.
- Median pay
- $61,800
- Doing it now
- 131,100
- By 2035
- Up 2.5%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
9,800 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Install assemblies, such as flashing, pipes, tubes, heating and air conditioning ducts, furnace casings, rain gutters, or downspouts in supportive frameworks.
- Select gauges or types of sheet metal or nonmetallic material, according to product specifications.
- Fasten seams or joints together with welds, bolts, cement, rivets, solder, caulks, metal drive clips, or bonds to assemble components into products or to repair sheet metal items.
- Fabricate or alter parts at construction sites, using shears, hammers, punches, or drills.
- Trim, file, grind, deburr, buff, or smooth surfaces, seams, or joints of assembled parts, using hand tools or portable power tools.
- Maintain equipment, making repairs or modifications when necessary.
- Shape metal material over anvils, blocks, or other forms, using hand tools.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Precision Metal WorkingSee 4 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Hands-on and practical
Organised and precise
Analytical and curious
Careers like this one
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers$53,750
- Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$46,550
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$46,330
- Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters$51,330
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$47,720
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$47,920
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $61,800 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.