Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers build coordination, social perceptiveness and time management skills that carry over to other work. Below are 25 careers ranked by how closely their skills match, with pay from BLS May 2025. The closest match is Furniture Finishers (85%).
Updated October 2026 · Data: O*NET 31.0 and BLS OEWS May 2025 · How we match careers
Sorted by skill match.
| # | Career | Skill match | Median pay | Pay change | Extra education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Furniture Finishers | 85% | $44,540 | +7% | None |
| 2 | Painters, Construction and Maintenance | 84% | $49,400 | +19% | None |
| 3 | Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers | 76% | $34,890 | −16% | None |
| 4 | Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers | 74% | $37,800 | −9% | None |
| 5 | Carpet Installers | 73% | $50,340 | +21% | None |
| 6 | Sewing Machine Operators | 72% | $36,670 | −12% | None |
| 7 | Foundry Mold and Coremakers | 72% | $48,110 | +16% | None |
| 8 | Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles | 71% | $56,460 | +36% | None |
| 9 | Bakers | 71% | $37,160 | −11% | None |
| 10 | Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators | 71% | $46,880 | +13% | None |
Compared with Painting, Coating, and Decorating Workers, median $41,600. Skill match is our estimate (0–99) from O*NET 31.0 skills, knowledge, work activities and interests, adjusted for preparation and big pay drops. Pay: BLS OEWS May 2025, national median.
How important each skill is in work as painting, coating, and decorating workers (O*NET importance, scale 1–5).
The gaps that show up most often across your top 10 matches.
Free and low-cost training: use the CareerOneStop training finder below.
A concrete first step, the skills to add, and the hard parts of each job, from O*NET 31.0 education, training and work context data.
85% skill match · $44,540 · +7% pay
Operation and Control · Repairing · Operations Monitoring
84% skill match · $49,400 · +19% pay
Operation and Control · Time Management · Management of Material Resources
76% skill match · $34,890 · −16% pay
Operation and Control · Operations Monitoring · Repairing
If you want to stay close to what you do now, these roles are the nearest.
The closest matches are Furniture Finishers (85% skill match, median $44,540), Painters, Construction and Maintenance (84% skill match, median $49,400) and Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers (76% skill match, median $34,890), based on O*NET 31.0 data and BLS May 2025 pay.
Among the 25 matches, 14 pay more than painting, coating, and decorating workers at the median. The biggest increases: Tapers (+64%, $68,270), Insulation Workers, Mechanical (+40%, $58,340) and Floor Layers, Except Carpet, Wood, and Hard Tiles (+36%, $56,460).
25 of the 25 matches usually need no more education than you have now, based on O*NET Job Zones.
We compare the importance of skills, knowledge, work activities and interests in O*NET 31.0 for your job and every other career, then adjust for extra preparation and big pay drops. The full method is on our Methodology page.