Best degree programs for Roofers, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 3 schools train Roofers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $55,440 median wage, 135,490 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 3 schools train roofers, graduating 42 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Roofer. The job pays a median of $55,440 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About roofers
Cover roofs of structures with shingles, slate, asphalt, aluminum, wood, or related materials. May spray roofs, sidings, and walls with material to bind, seal, insulate, or soundproof sections of structures.
A roofer, roof mechanic, or roofing contractor is a tradesperson who specializes in roof construction. Roofers replace, repair, and install the roofs of buildings, using a variety of materials, including shingles, single-ply, bitumen, and metal. Roofing work includes the hoisting, storage, application, and removal of roofing materials and equipment, including related insulation, sheet metal, vapor barrier work, and green technologies rooftop jobs such as vegetative roofs, rainwater harvesting systems, and photovoltaic products, such as solar shingles and solar tiles.
Read more on Wikipedia →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 46.0410 | 42 | 100.0% | 3 | $31,641 | $9,500 |
Top 3 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 | Centralia College Centralia, WA Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Roofer | 42% | — | — |
| 2 | Clover Park Technical College Lakewood, WA Public · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Roofer | 43% | — | — |
| 3 | Atlantic Technical College Coconut Creek, FL Public · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Roofer | 65% | — | — |
What roofers 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washingtonlimited | $60,640 | 5,890 | 1.90× | 2 | 38 |
| Floridalimited | $47,590 | 23,550 | 2.72× | 1 | 4 |
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
- Inspect problem roofs to determine the best repair procedures.
- Remove snow, water, or debris from roofs prior to applying roofing materials.
- Set up scaffolding to provide safe access to roofs.
- Estimate materials and labor required to complete roofing jobs.
- Cement or nail flashing strips of metal or shingle over joints to make them watertight.
- Install partially overlapping layers of material over roof insulation surfaces, using chalk lines, gauges on shingling hatchets, or lines on shingles.
- Cut felt, shingles, or strips of flashing to fit angles formed by walls, vents, or intersecting roof surfaces.
- Apply plastic coatings, membranes, fiberglass, or felt over sloped roofs before applying shingles.
Skills
- Active Listening3.1
- Critical Thinking3.1
- Monitoring3.0
- Speaking3.0
- Reading Comprehension2.8
- Active Learning2.6
- Mathematics2.3
- Learning Strategies2.1
Knowledge areas
- Building and Construction4.6
- Customer and Personal Service3.5
- English Language3.4
- Public Safety and Security3.3
- Education and Training3.2
- Mathematics3.2
Abilities
- Gross Body Equilibrium4.0
- Trunk Strength3.8
- Problem Sensitivity3.8
- Extent Flexibility3.8
- Near Vision3.6
- Manual Dexterity3.5
Core activities
- Performing General Physical Activities4.3
- Handling and Moving Objects4.2
- Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials4.1
- Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings4.1
- Getting Information4.0
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events4.0
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Roofer
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 Roofers1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 46.0410Roofer
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 Roofer?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Roofer, which awarded 42 degrees in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Roofer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Building/Construction Finishing. Together they graduate about 42 people a year.
How much do roofers earn?+
The median is $55,440 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $37,460 at the 10th percentile to $81,720 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 roofers growing?+
BLS projects a +5.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 12,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
3 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 roofers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Roofer, Roof Mechanic, Roofing Technician, Roof Service Technician among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 47-2181.
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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