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Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers: Career Overview

Construct, decorate, or repair leather and leather-like products, such as luggage, shoes, and saddles. May use hand tools.

What Do Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers Perform?

Typical responsibilities of shoe and leather workers and repairers span:

• Dye, soak, polish, paint, stamp, stitch, stain, buff, or engrave leather or other materials to obtain desired effects, decorations, or shapes.
• Cut out parts, following patterns or outlines, using knives, shears, scissors, or machine presses.
• Construct, decorate, or repair leather products according to specifications, using sewing machines, needles and thread, leather lacing, glue, clamps, hand tools, or rivets.
• Repair and recondition leather products such as trunks, luggage, shoes, saddles, belts, purses, and baseball gloves.
• Align and stitch or glue materials such as fabric, fleece, leather, or wood, to join parts.
• Inspect articles for defects, and remove damaged or worn parts, using hand tools.
• Drill or punch holes and insert or attach metal rings, handles, and fastening hardware, such as buckles.

Key Skills and Knowledge

Successful shoe and leather workers and repairers combine a mix of skills and domain knowledge.

Key Skills

These are the skills that matter most in this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:

Knowledge Areas

Related Job Titles

People in this occupation may also be known by titles such as:

• Back Shoe Cutter
• Bench Hand
• Boot Maker
• Boot Repairer
• Boot and Saddle Repair Person
• Bootmaker
• Cobbler
• Custom Leather Products Maker

How Many Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers Are There?

The U.S. employs around 215,892 shoe and leather workers and repairers working in the United States today. Demand is forecast to grow by +4.9% over the projection horizon.

Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers Pay

Statistic	Value
Annual median	$39,627
Hourly median	$19.05
10th percentile	$24,204
25th percentile	$31,915
75th percentile	$47,338
90th percentile	$55,050

Wages vary widely based on experience, location, and industry.

Pay by State

State	Annual median salary
Washington	$80,670
Tennessee	$50,790
Iowa	$48,010
New York	$43,740
Wisconsin	$40,440
Arizona	$40,260
Oregon	$39,680
Minnesota	$39,350
Montana	$39,250
Illinois	$38,790
Kentucky	$38,790
Virginia	$38,630
North Carolina	$37,710
Colorado	$37,480
California	$37,120
Maine	$36,800
Massachusetts	$36,770
Utah	$36,500
Missouri	$36,430
New Jersey	$35,500
Arkansas	$34,620
Michigan	$32,790
Pennsylvania	$32,280
Georgia	$31,400
Ohio	$31,060
Indiana	$29,630
Texas	$28,990
Alabama	$28,890
Florida	$26,560
Mississippi	$25,720

Where Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers Earn the Most

Pay for shoe and leather workers and repairers vary by region. The following regions pay the most:

Region	Median annual wage	Share of U.S. jobs	Location quotient
Plains States	$39,112	5.5%	1.11
Middle Atlantic	$38,345	7.1%	0.71
Far Western US	$37,992	12.9%	1.51
Rocky Mountains	$37,493	2.3%	0.86
Great Lakes	$36,955	12.7%	1.63
New England	$36,777	9.5%	3.35
Southeast	$35,616	23.5%	1.40
Southwest	$28,990	26.5%	2.73

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers

Metro area	State	Median annual wage	Employment
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	WA	$87,440
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	OR	$46,780	240
Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	WI	$42,540	230
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	AZ	$42,410
Cleveland, OH	OH	$38,280	40
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	NY	$37,090	340
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	CA	$36,910	120
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	CA	$36,840	280

Top Industries Employing Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers

The bulk of shoe and leather workers and repairers work in these industries:

Industry	Employment	Median annual wage
Manufacturing	5,870	$35,040
Other Services (except Public Administration)	690	$39,580
Retail Trade	570	$39,310
Wholesale Trade	460	$38,990

The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.

Tech Stack

• Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel (hot technology)

Work Environment

The work environment for shoe and leather workers and repairers reflects the following characteristics:

• Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls
• Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams
• Exposed to Contaminants
• Exposed to Hazardous Equipment
• Freedom to Make Decisions

How to Become Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers

Entry-level shoe and leather workers and repairers positions require a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education. This occupation sits in Some Preparation Needed (Job Zone 2), indicating the level of preparation typically expected.

Other Careers to Consider

Similar Occupations

• Timing Device Assemblers and Adjusters (Supplemental)
• Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic (Supplemental)
• Print Binding and Finishing Workers (Supplemental)
• Pressers, Textile, Garment, and Related Materials (Supplemental)
• Sewing Machine Operators (Primary-Short)
• Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders (Primary-Short)
• Sewers, Hand (Primary-Short)
• Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers (Primary-Long)

Where to Study

Aspiring shoe and leather workers and repairers often complete programs in:

Precision Production

1 programs across 1 majors

• Leatherworking & Upholstery

About the Data

Data on this page comes from the following authoritative sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
• BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
• O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 51-6041.00 (Shoe and Leather Workers and Repairers).