Upholsterers
Make, repair, or replace upholstery for household furniture or transportation vehicles.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Upholsterers. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $31,690 | $15.24 |
| 25th | $37,340 | $17.95 |
| 50th · Median | $46,340 | $22.28 |
| 75th | $54,580 | $26.24 |
| 90th | $63,770 | $30.66 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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Compare an entered wage with the published thresholds for United States. Your entry stays on this page.
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What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (32)
Typical tasks
- 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.
Expand more tasks (16)
- 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.
- Remove covering, webbing, padding, or defective springs from workpieces, using hand tools such as hammers and tack pullers.
- Attach fasteners, grommets, buttons, buckles, ornamental trim, and other accessories to covers or frames, using hand tools.
- Repair furniture frames and refinish exposed wood.
- Interweave and fasten strips of webbing to the backs and undersides of furniture, using small hand tools and fasteners.
- Draw cutting lines on material following patterns, templates, sketches, or blueprints, using chalk, pencils, paint, or other methods.
- Stretch webbing and fabric, using webbing stretchers.
- Operate sewing machines or sew upholstery by hand to seam cushions and join various sections of covering material.
- Design upholstery cover patterns and cutting plans, based on sketches, customer descriptions, or blueprints.
- Maintain records of time required to perform each job.
- Discuss upholstery fabrics, colors, and styles with customers, and provide cost estimates.
- Pick up and deliver furniture.
- Attach bindings or apply solutions to edges of cut material to prevent raveling.
- Collaborate with interior designers to decorate rooms and coordinate furnishing fabrics.
- Make, repair, or replace automobile upholstery and convertible and vinyl tops, using knowledge of fabric and upholstery methods.
Skills used in this work
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Expand more skills (29)
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
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