Best degree programs for Paperhangers, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 4 schools train Paperhangers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $52,140 median wage, 1,570 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 4 schools train paperhangers, graduating 29 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Painting/Painter and Wall Coverer. The job pays a median of $52,140 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About paperhangers
Cover interior walls or ceilings of rooms with decorative wallpaper or fabric, or attach advertising posters on surfaces such as walls and billboards. May remove old materials or prepare surfaces to be papered.
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 46.0408 | 29 | 100.0% | 4 | $31,641 | $9,500 |
Top 4 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 | 17 | Painting/Painter and Wall Coverer | 40% | — | — |
| 2 | Atlantic Technical College Coconut Creek, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Painting/Painter and Wall Coverer | 65% | — | — |
| 3 | Southwestern Illinois College Belleville, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Painting/Painter and Wall Coverer | 36% | — | — |
| 4 | American River College Sacramento, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Painting/Painter and Wall Coverer | 37% | — | — |
What paperhangers 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 | $54,810 | 70 | 2.04× | 1 | 17 |
| Floridalimited | $48,780 | 30 | 0.35× | 1 | 8 |
| Californialimited | $62,790 | 130 | 0.69× | 1 | 1 |
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
- Smooth strips or sections of paper with brushes or rollers to remove wrinkles and bubbles and to smooth joints.
- Trim rough edges from strips, using straightedges and trimming knives.
- Trim excess material at ceilings or baseboards, using knives.
- Check finished wallcoverings for proper alignment, pattern matching, and neatness of seams.
- Mark vertical guidelines on walls to align strips, using plumb bobs and chalk lines.
- Cover interior walls and ceilings of rooms with decorative wallpaper or fabric, using hand tools.
- Apply adhesives to the backs of paper strips, using brushes, or dunk strips of prepasted wallcovering in water, wiping off any excess adhesive.
- Measure and cut strips from rolls of wallpaper or fabric, using shears or razors.
Skills
- Speaking3.0
- Active Listening3.0
- Critical Thinking2.9
- Monitoring2.8
- Reading Comprehension2.4
- Writing2.0
- Learning Strategies2.0
- Mathematics2.0
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service3.7
- Building and Construction3.5
- Mathematics3.3
- Mechanical3.0
- Administration and Management3.0
- Public Safety and Security3.0
Abilities
- Near Vision3.6
- Manual Dexterity3.6
- Arm-Hand Steadiness3.5
- Extent Flexibility3.4
- Multilimb Coordination3.4
- Gross Body Equilibrium3.3
Core activities
- Performing General Physical Activities4.4
- Handling and Moving Objects4.1
- Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials3.7
- Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment3.7
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships3.5
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates3.3
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Paperhanger
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- 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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Paperhangers1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 46.0408Painting/Painter and Wall Coverer
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 Paperhanger?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Painting/Painter and Wall Coverer, which awarded 29 degrees in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Paperhanger?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Building/Construction Finishing. Together they graduate about 29 people a year.
How much do paperhangers earn?+
The median is $52,140 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $36,020 at the 10th percentile to $69,050 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 paperhangers growing?+
BLS projects a +5.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
4 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 paperhangers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Bill Poster, Paperhanger, Paper Hanger, Wallpaper Hanger among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 47-2142.
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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