Highway Maintenance Workers

Median salary

$50,260

Average salary

$53,080

Employment

154,960

Projected growth

3% growth

Annual openings

12,300

Typical entry education

High school diploma or equivalent

What Highway Maintenance Workers Do

Maintain highways, municipal and rural roads, airport runways, and rights-of-way. Duties include patching broken or eroded pavement and repairing guard rails, highway markers, and snow fences. May also mow or clear brush from along road, or plow snow from roadway.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 2024–2034.

Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Moderate-term on-the-job training
Self-employed: Not available

Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.

How Much Preparation Does This Take?

Job Zone 2 of 5

Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed

Experience: Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience.
Education: Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Job training: Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Source: O*NET Job Zones.

Key Knowledge Areas

Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.

Public Safety and Securityimportance 4.2/5
English Languageimportance 3.5/5
Transportationimportance 3.3/5
Building and Constructionimportance 3.2/5
Education and Trainingimportance 3.0/5
Administration and Managementimportance 3.0/5
Mechanicalimportance 3.0/5
Customer and Personal Serviceimportance 3.0/5

Work Environment

What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.

Outdoors, Exposed to All Weather Conditions4.9/5
Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets4.9/5
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.8/5
Exposed to Contaminants4.7/5
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team4.6/5
Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable4.6/5

Careers With Similar Skills

Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.

Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders96% skill match
Floor Sanders and Finishers96% skill match
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand96% skill match
Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers95% skill match
Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors95% skill match
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic95% skill match
Helpers--Painters, Paperhangers, Plasterers, and Stucco Masons95% skill match
Rock Splitters, Quarry95% skill match

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.

Operation and Controlimportance 3.6/5
Operations Monitoringimportance 3.5/5
Coordinationimportance 3.1/5
Complex Problem Solvingimportance 3.0/5
Social Perceptivenessimportance 2.9/5
Troubleshootingimportance 2.9/5
Quality Control Analysisimportance 2.9/5
Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 2.9/5

Software & Technologies

Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.

Hot Technologies

Other Software Used

Work Style

Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.

Dependability
Cautiousness
Attention to Detail
Perseverance
Stress Tolerance
Cooperation
Self-Control

Career Interests

This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.

RealisticHigh
ConventionalMedium
SocialLow
InvestigativeLow
EnterprisingLow
ArtisticLow

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

Where This Career Is Most Concentrated

Metro areas where highway maintenance workers make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).