beta
Write my resume

Pay · 49-9092

Commercial Divers earn $72,990 a year at the midpoint

Where you land matters more here than in most jobs — the top tenth earn more than 3.6 times the bottom tenth. The midpoint is $72,990.

Write my resume for this job →

$72,990median a year · United States
$35.09an hour $88,320average 3,450people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$54,81025th $72,990median $101,55075th
$43,33010th percentile $157,79090th percentile
$54,810a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$161,800best-paying state · Washington
$46,490lowest-paying state · Texas
+122%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

State matters a lotThe same job pays $161,800 in Washington and $46,490 in Texas — a gap of $115,310 a year.

Commercial diver earnings, from starting pay to the top 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

Experience
Name this figure
When they ask “What are your salary expectations?”

An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

Neighbouring work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Commercial Divers$72,990
Signal and Track Switch Repairers$92,460+$19,470 Riggers$62,640−$10,350 Coin, Vending, and Amusement Machine Servicers and Repairers$47,450−$25,540

Number 277 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 65% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 275 Conservation Scientists $73,010
  2. 276 Social Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary, All Other $72,990
  3. 277 Commercial Divers $72,990
  4. 278 Fundraisers $72,550
  5. 279 Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners $72,420

Examples

Resumes made for this kind of work.

Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.

All templates →

  • Commercial Diver Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Vending Machine Technician Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Locksmith Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Manufactured Home Installer Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Rigger Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Signal and Track Switch Repairer Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Maintenance Helper Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Maintenance and Repair Technician Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Wind Turbine Technician Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Maintenance Technician Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Precision Instrument Repair Technician Resume Template Installation & Repair
  • Watch and Clock Repairer Resume Template Installation & Repair

Commercial diver wages across the states

The 16 states where the most people do this work, of 19 with a published figure: their medians range by 3.28 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Washington $161,800 $122,290 $122,290 — $250,960 —
New York $157,800 $62,400 $62,400 — $157,820 170
Rhode Island $126,320 $73,130 $73,130 — $126,340 —
California $101,540 $39,980 $39,980 — $152,760 310
Hawaii $95,750 $49,010 $49,010 — $134,060 70
New Jersey $86,920 $65,200 $65,200 — $144,470 —
Arizona $85,990 $85,810 $85,810 — $92,530 —
Vermont $85,780 $83,260 $83,260 — $101,690 80
Indiana $83,510 $79,040 $79,040 — $104,980 —
Maine $74,610 $37,300 $37,300 — $80,110 —
Kentucky $63,550 $37,550 $37,550 — $84,950 —
Louisiana $62,230 $32,430 $32,430 — $99,160 230
Connecticut $59,690 $53,540 $53,540 — $83,700 120
Michigan $54,620 $49,420 $49,420 — $76,450 80
Florida $49,640 $39,200 $39,200 — $70,120 370
South Carolina $49,260 $43,110 $43,110 — $92,720 30

Commercial diver pay rate, from hourly to yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$72,987a year

Resumes for commercial divers

Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.

Diving logbook softwareDiving table softwareDynamic positioning DP softwareRemote operated vehicle ROV dive log softwareWeb browser software
  • Checked and maintained diving equipment, such as helmets, masks, air tanks, harnesses, or gauges.
  • Took appropriate safety precautions, such as monitoring dive lengths and depths and registering with authorities before diving expeditions begin.
  • Communicated with workers on the surface while underwater, using signal lines or telephones.

Write my resume →

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Questions people ask

What is a commercial diver’s yearly income?

A commercial diver makes a median of $72,990 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $54,810 and $101,550.

What is a commercial diver’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $35.09 an hour; the average is $88,320 a year.

What is the starting pay for a commercial diver?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $54,810 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $43,330.

Which state pays commercial divers the most?

Washington, with a median of $161,800 a year.

How many people work as commercial divers?

About 3,450 in the United States — number 277 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays roughly the same

Median pay within $440 of what commercial divers earn — $72,990 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations