Best degree programs for Upholsterers, ranked by enrollment
1 college programs and 5 schools train Upholsterers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $46,340 median wage, 20,140 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
1 college programs at 5 schools train upholsterers, graduating 28 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Upholstery/Upholsterer. The job pays a median of $46,340 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About upholsterers
Make, repair, or replace upholstery for household furniture or transportation vehicles.
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 | Upholstery/Upholsterermain feeder CIP 48.0303 | 28 | 100.0% | 5 | $18,872 | — |
Top 5 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 | Institucion Chaviano de Mayaguez Mayaguez, PR Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Upholstery/Upholsterer | 54% | $4,482 | — |
| 2 | Savannah Technical College Savannah, GA Public · 1 feeder programs | 8 | Upholstery/Upholsterer | 42% | — | — |
| 3 | Clover Park Technical College Lakewood, WA Public · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Upholstery/Upholsterer | 43% | — | — |
| 4 | Riverside City College Riverside, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Upholstery/Upholsterer | 37% | — | — |
| 5 | San Bernardino Valley College San Bernardino, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 1 | Upholstery/Upholsterer | 28% | — | — |
What upholsterers 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgialimited | $50,760 | 780 | 1.23× | 1 | 8 |
| Washingtonlimited | $55,970 | 200 | 0.43× | 1 | 7 |
| Californialimited | $48,580 | 1,640 | 0.70× | 2 | 3 |
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
- Fit, install, and secure material on frames, using hand tools, power tools, glue, cement, or staples.
- Measure and cut new covering materials, using patterns and measuring and cutting instruments, following sketches and design specifications.
- Build furniture up with loose fiber stuffing, cotton, felt, or foam padding to form smooth, rounded surfaces.
- Make, restore, or create custom upholstered furniture, using hand tools and knowledge of fabrics and upholstery methods.
- Read work orders, and apply knowledge and experience with materials to determine types and amounts of materials required to cover workpieces.
- Examine furniture frames, upholstery, springs, and webbing to locate defects.
- Adjust or replace webbing, padding, or springs, and secure them in place.
- Sew rips or tears in material, or create tufting, using needles and thread.
Skills
- Critical Thinking3.5
- Reading Comprehension3.1
- Active Learning3.0
- Active Listening3.0
- Monitoring3.0
- Speaking3.0
- Learning Strategies2.8
- Writing2.6
Knowledge areas
- Production and Processing3.1
- Design3.0
- Customer and Personal Service2.9
- Mechanical2.8
- Education and Training2.7
- Mathematics2.6
Abilities
- Manual Dexterity4.0
- Finger Dexterity4.0
- Arm-Hand Steadiness4.0
- Near Vision3.9
- Multilimb Coordination3.8
- Control Precision3.8
Core activities
- Handling and Moving Objects4.0
- Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials3.9
- Getting Information3.8
- Performing General Physical Activities3.7
- Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information3.6
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems3.6
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Upholsterer
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- 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 Upholsterers1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 48.0303Upholstery/Upholsterer
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 an Upholsterer?+
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 Upholstery/Upholsterer, which awarded 28 degrees in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Upholsterer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Leatherworking and Upholstery. Together they graduate about 28 people a year.
How much do upholsterers earn?+
The median is $46,340 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $31,690 at the 10th percentile to $63,770 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 upholsterers growing?+
BLS projects a -1.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 2,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
5 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 upholsterers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Upholsterer, Upholstery Cutter, Box Spring Upholsterer, Upholstered Goods Crafter among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-6093.
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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