Best degree programs for Floor Sanders and Finishers, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 2 schools train Floor Sanders and Finishers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $50,440 median wage, 3,720 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 2 schools train floor sanders and finishers, graduating 30 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Carpet, Floor, and Tile Worker. The job pays a median of $50,440 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About floor sanders and finishers
Scrape and sand wooden floors to smooth surfaces using floor scraper and floor sanding machine, and apply coats of finish.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
1 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 46.0413 | 30 | 100.0% | 2 | $31,641 | $9,500 |
Top 2 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis, IN Public · 1 feeder programs | 22 | Carpet, Floor, and Tile Worker | 40% | — | — |
| 2 | College of Southern Nevada Las Vegas, NV Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Carpet, Floor, and Tile Worker | 19% | — | — |
What floor sanders and finishers earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indianalimited | $46,520 | — | — | 1 | 22 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Buff and vacuum floors to ensure their cleanliness prior to the application of finish.
- Scrape and sand floor edges and areas inaccessible to floor sanders, using scrapers, disk-type sanders, and sandpaper.
- Inspect floors for smoothness.
- Attach sandpaper to rollers of sanding machines.
- Guide sanding machines over surfaces of floors until surfaces are smooth.
- Apply filler compound and coats of finish to floors to seal wood.
- Remove excess glue from joints, using knives, scrapers, or wood chisels.
Skills
- Active Listening3.0
- Monitoring2.9
- Critical Thinking2.8
- Speaking2.8
- Active Learning2.6
- Reading Comprehension2.6
- Writing2.1
- Learning Strategies2.1
Knowledge areas
- Building and Construction4.1
- Customer and Personal Service4.1
- English Language3.6
- Production and Processing3.3
- Administration and Management3.0
- Mechanical3.0
Abilities
- Arm-Hand Steadiness3.8
- Trunk Strength3.6
- Multilimb Coordination3.6
- Control Precision3.6
- Manual Dexterity3.6
- Finger Dexterity3.3
Core activities
- Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings4.3
- Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials4.3
- Getting Information4.2
- Controlling Machines and Processes4.1
- Performing General Physical Activities4.1
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events4.1
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Floor Sander
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Floor Sanders and Finishers1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 46.0413Carpet, Floor, and Tile Worker
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become a Floor Sander?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Carpet, Floor, and Tile Worker, which awarded 30 degrees in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Floor Sander?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Building/Construction Finishing. Together they graduate about 30 people a year.
How much do floor sanders and finishers earn?+
The median is $50,440 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $37,070 at the 10th percentile to $70,340 at the 90th. 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 floor sanders and finishers growing?+
BLS projects a +2.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
2 institutions 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 floor sanders and finishers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Floor Sander, Floor Finisher, Floor Mechanic, Hardwood Floor Sander among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 47-2043.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, 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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