Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers Salary and Pay
How much do Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers make?
Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers pay a median of $35,950 a year in the BLS May 2024 survey, with a mean of $36,280 across 7,640 counted jobs. Half of all workers in the occupation earn between $29,400 and $41,400.
The complete pay picture for Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers: 7,640 jobs nationally, a median of $35,950, and the state and metro tables that show where that median is beaten and where it is not.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Conversions use 12 months, 26 biweekly periods, 52 weeks, and 2,080 hours. No level in this occupation's ladder reaches the BLS top code, so every figure the converter shows is a published estimate rather than a floor.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $25,170 | $12.10 |
| 25th percentile | $29,400 | $14.13 |
| Median (50th) | $35,950 | $17.29 |
| 75th percentile | $41,400 | $19.91 |
| 90th percentile | $48,090 | $23.12 |
The five rows are five different workers in the same occupation, from the 10th percentile ($25,170) to the 90th ($48,090). BLS suppresses cells that fail its reliability rules (n/p here) and caps the highest wages at $239,200+ a year or $115.00+ an hour; in this ladder that top code appears at the very top rows only.
Employment and concentration
The occupation employed 7,640 people in May 2024, 0.00% of every job BLS counted. Texas is the largest employer at 1,870 jobs, and the leading three states between them hold 39.1% of the workforce. Concentration peaks in Maine, whose location quotient of 5.11 says this work is 5.11 times as dense there as it is nationwide.
Pay inside the occupation is wide: $22,920 separates the ends of its ladder. The 90th percentile ($48,090) is 1.9 times the 10th percentile ($25,170), a gap of $22,920 a year. The mean of $36,280 sitting above the median of $35,950 tells you the top end pulls the average up: most workers cluster below the mean, and the high tail is thin.
Pay by state
Every state with a publishable estimate is in this table, 30 of them, sorted by jobs. The pay leader by median is Washington at $80,670; the jobs leader is Texas:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 1,870 | 0.1 | 2.73 | $29,850 | $28,990 |
| California | 600 | 0.0 | 0.67 | $38,180 | $37,120 |
| Florida | 520 | 0.1 | 1.07 | $32,100 | $26,560 |
| Massachusetts | 510 | 0.1 | 2.80 | $40,700 | $36,770 |
| Wisconsin | 420 | 0.1 | 2.87 | $39,600 | $40,440 |
| Tennessee | 380 | 0.1 | 2.32 | $43,900 | $50,790 |
| Oregon | 310 | 0.2 | 3.13 | $42,060 | $39,680 |
| New Jersey | 230 | 0.1 | 1.09 | $37,850 | $35,500 |
| New York | 200 | 0.0 | 0.43 | $42,070 | $43,740 |
| Arkansas | 180 | 0.1 | 2.76 | $32,450 | $34,620 |
| Missouri | 180 | 0.1 | 1.25 | $35,930 | $36,430 |
| Illinois | 170 | 0.0 | 0.58 | $39,890 | $38,790 |
| North Carolina | 170 | 0.0 | 0.71 | $38,180 | $37,710 |
| Ohio | 170 | 0.0 | 0.63 | $33,220 | $31,060 |
| Maine | 160 | 0.3 | 5.11 | $36,170 | $36,800 |
| Minnesota | 160 | 0.1 | 1.12 | $41,200 | $39,350 |
| Georgia | 150 | 0.0 | 0.61 | $32,300 | $31,400 |
| Virginia | 100 | 0.0 | 0.50 | $40,380 | $38,630 |
| Michigan | 80 | 0.0 | 0.38 | $36,060 | $32,790 |
| Mississippi | 70 | 0.1 | 1.28 | $27,030 | $25,720 |
| Pennsylvania | 70 | 0.0 | 0.24 | $40,710 | $32,280 |
| Utah | 70 | 0.0 | 0.88 | $36,620 | $36,500 |
| Indiana | 60 | 0.0 | 0.37 | $35,920 | $29,630 |
| Alabama | 50 | 0.0 | 0.51 | $29,680 | $28,890 |
| Colorado | 50 | 0.0 | 0.33 | $40,610 | $37,480 |
| Iowa | 50 | 0.0 | 0.61 | $44,850 | $48,010 |
| Kentucky | 40 | 0.0 | 0.39 | $35,990 | $38,790 |
| Montana | 40 | 0.1 | 1.48 | $39,960 | $39,250 |
| Arizona | n/p | n/p | n/p | $39,820 | $40,260 |
| Washington | n/p | n/p | n/p | $69,910 | $80,670 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers stands number 720 by employment and number 778 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Production Occupations, the group median wage is $46,020 across 105 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 22% less than its group median, and it supplies 0.1% of the group's 8,743,430 jobs. In 19 of the 30 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $35,950, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH is the largest metro employer with 380 jobs, 5.0% of the national total. Two rankings follow across the 14 metros BLS publishes for this occupation: where the jobs are, then where the money is, with the pay ranking restricted to metros employing at least 500 people in this occupation to keep small samples out of the lead.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 380 | $41,050 | $36,770 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 350 | $35,470 | $35,270 |
| El Paso, TX | 340 | $23,170 | $24,960 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 340 | $40,260 | $37,090 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 280 | $37,610 | $36,840 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 240 | $43,870 | $46,780 |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | 230 | $41,630 | $42,540 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 120 | $36,610 | $36,910 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 110 | $32,830 | $33,130 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 80 | $36,240 | $31,900 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
The median annual wage of $35,950 works out to $2,996 a month before taxes, $1,383 per biweekly paycheck, and $691 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($29,400) to the 75th ($41,400) is worth $12,000 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. Run the median through the paycheck calculator for a take-home estimate in your state, compare an offer against your current pay with the salary calculator, and check whether a raise actually beats prices with the raise vs inflation calculator.
To place a real offer: a salary of $39,545 would sit between the median ($35,950) and the 75th percentile ($41,400), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $29,400, is $6,550 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Production Occupations
Sibling occupations in Production Occupations: Engine and Other Machine Assemblers, Print Binding and Finishing Workers, Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers, Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic, Dental Laboratory Technicians. Medians there are computed identically, so the comparison is apples to apples; the full set lives on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers make?
The median annual wage is $35,950 and the mean is $36,280 in the BLS OEWS May 2024 estimates. The middle half of workers earn between $29,400 and $41,400 a year.
Which state pays Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers the most?
By median annual wage, Washington leads the state table at $80,670, based on n/p jobs in that state. By mean wage and by headcount the leaders can differ, so the state table on this page shows all three measures side by side.
How many Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers are there in the United States?
BLS counted 7,640 wage and salary workers in this occupation in May 2024, 0.00% of all U.S. employment in the survey. The largest state employer is Texas with 1,870 jobs.
What do the OEWS percentiles mean for Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers?
They mark points in this occupation's pay distribution. One worker in ten earns $25,170 or less and one in ten earns $48,090 or more; the median, $35,950, is the wage of the worker exactly in the middle of the 7,640 counted jobs.