Model Makers, Wood

Model Makers, Wood (SOC 51-7031) earn a median $56,550 a year ($27.19 an hour) in the United States, with 280 employed as of May 2025; the highest-paying state is Ohio.

What model makers, wood do

Wood model makers build full-size and scale wooden models of products. The SOC definition also includes wood jig builders and loft workers. The model maker begins by reading blueprints, drawings, or written specifications and consulting with designers to settle sizes, shapes, and machine setups. After drawing outlines or sectional patterns on the stock, they cut parts and assemble them using glue, nails, dowels, bolts, and screws. Hand tools shape the surfaces: planes, files, scrapers, and sandpaper bring them to the needed contours. Templates and measuring devices check the dimensions while the model is formed. They also build molds, templates, and production tools. Wooden stock is selected and part layouts are marked on it with scribers, squares, and protractors. Wood patternmakers produce patterns for casting molds and are a separate occupation, as are model makers who work in metal and plastic.

Typical entry: According to O*NET, a post-secondary certificate is the most common level of education reported by workers in this occupation.

Also called: Aircraft Model Maker, Architectural Wood Model Maker, Builder, Building Craftsman, Craftsman.

National wage percentiles, May 2025

Model Makers, Wood: US hourly and annual wage percentiles, mean and employment, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
United States	Hourly	$16.73	$18.10	$27.19	$41.90	$47.14	$30.61	280
United States	Annual	$34,800	$37,660	$56,550	$87,150	$98,050	$63,670	280

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles. The same numbers are in the table above.

Employment per 1,000 jobs and the location quotient are area measures; they appear in the state and metro tables below. To see what a wage in this range leaves after tax, use FastCalc's take-home pay calculator.

Where model makers, wood earn and work most

Five highest-paying states

Model Makers, Wood: the five states with the highest median wage, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Ohio	Hourly	$16.73	$16.73	$17.26	$17.63	$17.95	$17.30	**	**	**
Ohio	Annual	$34,800	$34,800	$35,900	$36,660	$37,330	$35,990	**	**	**

Five states with the most jobs

Model Makers, Wood: the five states with the highest employment, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient

Five highest-paying metropolitan areas

Model Makers, Wood: the five metropolitan areas with the highest median wage, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient

Five metropolitan areas with the most jobs

Model Makers, Wood: the five metropolitan areas with the highest employment, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient

Top industries employing model makers, wood

Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing (3371 and 3372 only) employ 53.6% of model makers, wood nationally (150 jobs) at a median $38,710 a year ($18.61 an hour), followed by Federal Executive Branch (OEWS Designation) (17.9%).

Model Makers, Wood: the 2 industries with the highest employment, United States, May 2025 (4-digit NAICS)
Industry	Employment	Share of occupation	Median annual	Median hourly
Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing (3371 and 3372 only) NAICS 3370A1	150	53.6%	$38,710	$18.61
Federal Executive Branch (OEWS Designation) NAICS 999100	50	17.9%	$95,990	$46.15

Share is the industry's employment over the occupation's national employment (280). Industries whose employment BLS withheld are not ranked.

Published medians, May 2021 to May 2025

BLS published a median annual wage of $60,780 for model makers, wood in May 2021 and $56,550 in May 2025, with employment of 340 and 280.

Model Makers, Wood: median annual wage, median hourly wage and employment in each OEWS May release, United States, as published
Release	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
May 2021	$60,780	$29.22	340
May 2022	$46,940	$22.57	720
May 2023	$45,040	$21.66	590
May 2024	$51,850	$24.93	360
May 2025	$56,550	$27.19	280

Median annual wage in each release, as published; a release without a published median has no point. The same numbers are in the table above.

BLS does not design OEWS as a time series: each release pools three years of samples, and occupational classifications, area definitions and estimation methods change between releases, so a difference between two releases is not a measure of change over time. The figures are shown as published, side by side, and nothing is computed from them. See how often OEWS is updated.

Every state, by median wage

1 states and DC publish a row for this occupation. A linked state has its own page with the within-state metro table and comparison; the others appear here only.

Rank	State	Median hourly	Median annual	10th pct (annual)	90th pct (annual)	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
1	Ohio profile	$17.26	$35,900	$34,800	$37,330	**	**	**

Occupations in the same SOC broad group (51-7030), with their national median annual wage.

Part of Production Occupations. Compare any area in the wage explorer.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS 51-7031 Model Makers, Wood.

**: Employment estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Top industries: nat4d_M2025_dl.xlsx in oesm25in4.zip (BLS OEWS May 2025, national, 4-digit NAICS, cross-ownership). Employment is the industry's rounded total for this occupation; industries whose employment BLS withheld (**) are not ranked.
Published medians: national_M2021_dl.xlsx to national_M2024_dl.xlsx in oesm21nat.zip to oesm24nat.zip (BLS OEWS May 2021 to May 2024, national, cross-industry, all ownerships) and the May 2025 spine. Each release is shown as published; nothing is computed between them.

Sources

BLS Standard Occupational Classification 2018, definition of 51-7031, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (public domain).
O*NET 30.1 Database, 51-7031.00, National Center for O*NET Development, USDOL/ETA (CC BY 4.0).
OEWS May 2025 national industry-specific estimates, 4-digit NAICS (oesm25in4.zip), US Bureau of Labor Statistics (public domain).
OEWS May 2021 national estimates (oesm21nat.zip), US Bureau of Labor Statistics (public domain).
OEWS May 2022 national estimates (oesm22nat.zip), US Bureau of Labor Statistics (public domain).
OEWS May 2023 national estimates (oesm23nat.zip), US Bureau of Labor Statistics (public domain).
OEWS May 2024 national estimates (oesm24nat.zip), US Bureau of Labor Statistics (public domain).
OEWS May 2025 national estimates (oesm25nat.zip), the site's data spine, US Bureau of Labor Statistics (public domain).

Includes information from O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 license.

Description written 2026-10-17 in our own words from the sources above.