Pennsylvania·Production Occupations·SOC 51-7032

Best Patternmaker, Wood programs in Pennsylvania, ranked by enrollment

Plan, lay out, and construct wooden unit or sectional patterns used in forming sand molds for.

3 schools in Pennsylvania run programs that feed this job, graduating 17 people a year. The job pays a median of $55,020 in Pennsylvania across about jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledMold MakerPatternmakerPattern MakerWood Pattern MakerForms BuilderPattern WorkerWood Die MakerWoodshop Worker
Graduates / yr
17
in Pennsylvania
Median pay · Pennsylvania
$55,020
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
people employed
Schools
3
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
57%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

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

1 programs in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Pennsylvania (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 Pennsylvania page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
117
100.0%
3$26,594$18,142

Top 3 schools in Pennsylvania

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 3 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology
Lancaster, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
13Cabinetmaking and Millwork$38,30571%71%
2Bucks County Community College
Newtown, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
3Cabinetmaking and Millwork32%
3Greater Altoona Career & Technology Center
Altoona, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
1Cabinetmaking and Millwork68%

All 3 schools in Pennsylvania

Every school in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Thaddeus Stevens College of TechnologyLancasterPublic131
Bucks County Community CollegeNewtownPublic31
Greater Altoona Career & Technology CenterAltoonaPublic11

What patternmakers, wood earn in Pennsylvania

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

Median annual in Pennsylvania
$55,020
Mean annual
$57,760
Jobs in state
What the range looks like
10th pct$49,220Median$55,02090th pct$81,100
Versus the national median
+10.9%

U.S. median $49,630. Pennsylvania pays above the national figure.

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-5.0%
Decline
Openings per year
0
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
0
500 → 400
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-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 Patternmakers, Wood page.

How to become a Patternmaker, Wood

Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionMonitoringActive ListeningCritical ThinkingMathematicsSpeaking

Related careers in Pennsylvania

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Patternmakers, Wood1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 48.0703Cabinetmaking and Millwork

Common questions

Answers for people weighing patternmakers, wood programs in Pennsylvania.

What degree do you need to become a Patternmaker, Wood?+

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 Cabinetmaking and Millwork, which awarded 17 degrees in Pennsylvania in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Patternmaker, Wood?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Woodworking. Together they graduate about 17 people a year in Pennsylvania.

How much do patternmakers, wood earn in Pennsylvania?+

The median is $55,020 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 10.9% above the U.S. median of $49,630. 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 patternmakers, wood growing?+

BLS projects a -5.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 0 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Pennsylvania?+

3 institutions in Pennsylvania 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 patternmakers, wood work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Mold Maker, Patternmaker, Pattern Maker, Wood Pattern Maker among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-7032.

Programs in PennsylvaniaCabinetmaking and Millwork

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

All Clema data sources and release dates →

Explore every U.S. college in one conversation

Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.

Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card