Drywall Installation

Types of Degrees Drywall Installation Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many drywall installation/drywaller graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	40
Undergraduate Certificate	10
Associate Degree	2

What Drywall Installation Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, drywall installation/drywaller majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Drywall Installation/Drywaller Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

Skills for Drywall Installation/Drywaller Majors

A major in drywall installation/drywaller prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Time Management - Managing one’s own time and the time of others.

Abilities for Drywall Installation/Drywaller Majors

Drywall Installation/Drywaller majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

What Can You Do With a Drywall Installation Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with drywall installation/drywaller:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers	1.0%	$43,730
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers	12.6%	$65,230

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Drywall Installation?

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of drywall installation/drywaller majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	1
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

How Much Do Drywall Installation Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $49,170 to $70,540 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to drywall installation/drywaller. This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Drywall Installation

Some careers associated with drywall installation/drywaller require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for drywall installation/drywaller careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	19.2%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	34.4%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	20.8%
Some College Courses	24.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	0.5%
Bachelor’s Degree	1.7%

Online Drywall Installation Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 6 schools offered some type of drywall installation/drywaller program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	2	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	3	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Drywall Installation Worth It?

The median salary for a drywall installation/drywaller grad is $49,170 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 23% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $185,400 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Drywall Installation

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to drywall installation/drywaller.

Major	Number of Grads
Building/Property Maintenance	1,289
Building Construction Technology	1,175
Building/Construction Site Management/Manager	910
Other Building/Construction Finishing, Management, & Inspection	616
Building/Home/Construction Inspection/Inspector	239
Insulator	62
Concrete Finishing/Concrete Finisher	52
Painting/Painter & Wall Coverer	40
Glazier	34
Carpet, Floor, & Tile Worker	30
Roofer	12

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.