Tile and Stone Setters
Apply hard tile, stone, and comparable materials to walls, floors, ceilings, countertops, and roof decks.
- Median pay
- $55,690
- Doing it now
- 45,200
- By 2035
- Up 9.8%
- Usually needs
- No formal educational credential
a year
across the country
3,300 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Align and straighten tile using levels, squares, and straightedges.
- Determine and implement the best layout to achieve a desired pattern.
- Cut and shape tile to fit around obstacles and into odd spaces and corners, using hand and power cutting tools.
- Finish and dress the joints and wipe excess grout from between tiles, using damp sponge.
- Apply mortar to tile back, position the tile, and press or tap with trowel handle to affix tile to base.
- Mix, apply, and spread plaster, concrete, mortar, cement, mastic, glue or other adhesives to form a bed for the tiles, using brush, trowel and screed.
- Measure and mark surfaces to be tiled, following blueprints.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Building/Construction Finishing, Management, and InspectionSee 14 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
Creative and expressive
Careers like this one
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 $55,690 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.