North Dakota·Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations·SOC 49-3021

Best Automotive Body programs in North Dakota, ranked by enrollment

Repair and refinish automotive vehicle bodies and straighten vehicle.

2 schools in North Dakota run programs that feed this job, graduating 22 people a year. The job pays a median of $55,160 in North Dakota across about 680 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledBody ManAuto Body ManBody Technician (Body Tech)Automotive Body Technician (Auto Body Tech)Frame ManBody SanderBody WorkerMetal Bumper
Graduates / yr
22
in North Dakota
Median pay · North Dakota
$55,160
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
680
people employed
Schools
2
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
51%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in North Dakota that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in North Dakota that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in North Dakota (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own North Dakota page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
122
100.0%
2$37,089$11,790

Top 2 schools in North Dakota

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 2 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Bismarck State College
Bismarck, ND Public · 1 feeder programs
12Autobody/Collision and Repair Technology/Technician$44,30947%
2North Dakota State College of Science
Wahpeton, ND Public · 1 feeder programs
10Autobody/Collision and Repair Technology/Technician$56,65955%

All 2 schools in North Dakota

Every school in North Dakota with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in North Dakota that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Bismarck State CollegeBismarckPublic121
North Dakota State College of ScienceWahpetonPublic101

What automotive body and related repairers earn in North Dakota

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in North Dakota
$55,160
Mean annual
$59,770
Jobs in state
680
What the range looks like
10th pct$36,970Median$55,16090th pct$98,600
Versus the national median
+0.5%

U.S. median $54,890. North Dakota pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.65×

Concentrated here: North Dakota employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in North Dakota

Minot, ND
$57,370median
80 jobs
Bismarck, ND
$57,210median
130 jobs
Fargo, ND-MN
$57,350median
170 jobs
Grand Forks, ND-MN
$54,930median
80 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+1.6%
Little or no change
Openings per year
14,600
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
2,800
172,600 → 175,400
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus long-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Automotive Body and Related Repairers page.

How to become a Automotive Body

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Long-term on-the-job training

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

MonitoringActive ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingActive LearningReading Comprehension

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in North Dakota

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Automotive Body and Related Repairers1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 47.0603Autobody/Collision and Repair Technology/Technician

Common questions

Answers for people weighing automotive body and related repairers programs in North Dakota.

What degree do you need to become an Automotive Body?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Autobody/Collision and Repair Technology/Technician, which awarded 22 degrees in North Dakota in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Automotive Body?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 22 people a year in North Dakota.

How much do automotive body and related repairers earn in North Dakota?+

The median is $55,160 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.5% above the U.S. median of $54,890. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for automotive body and related repairers growing?+

BLS projects a +1.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 14,600 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in North Dakota?+

2 institutions in North Dakota reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do automotive body and related repairers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Body Man, Auto Body Man, Body Technician (Body Tech), Automotive Body Technician (Auto Body Tech) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 49-3021.

Automotive Body and Related Repairers in other statesTexasNorth CarolinaOklahomaCaliforniaIllinoisTennesseeColoradoGeorgia
Related careers in North DakotaAutomotive Service Technicians and Mechanics

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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