Occupation / job
Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
Median annual pay. Half earn less than this.
Hourly at a standard 2,080-hour year. We do not yet have unpaid-time or cost data for this, so this is not an adjusted figure.
The middle half. A quarter earn below this range.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 · view
What this figure cannot tell you
It covers people EMPLOYED in this occupation. Anyone who trained for it and was never hired is not in the median above, and neither is anyone doing the work self-employed. No verified count of qualified people exists for this occupation, so this page shows none rather than an estimate. Why that matters · The occupations where we could source it
Who this suits
A $49,880 median against $50,020 across all occupations puts Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners within $11 a month of the exact middle of the American labour market. Nothing in the headline number argues either way.
With 30,650 employed as Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners, most metros have a working market: several employers, visible turnover, and the ability to change jobs without moving house.
These roles suit people who have built a specific competence around construction — a hazard, an inspection, an installation type — and want the site work without the trade’s full apprenticeship.
No verified preparation time is on file for Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners. The wage survey behind every figure on this page asks employers what they pay, not what they required, so the honest answer here is that we do not know.
Who should not do this
Between $43,530 and $61,060 there is $17,530, a ratio of 1.4x. Tight distributions are predictable, and predictable cuts both ways: little risk of being badly underpaid, little prospect of doing much better.
The 25th percentile of $43,530 is only $6,490 off the $50,020 national midpoint. Being in the worst-paid quarter of Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners still means being paid close to what the average American job pays.
Avoid it if you need a broad employer base; these roles concentrate in a small number of firms.
There is no failure rate on this page because there is nothing honest to divide by. BLS counted 30,650 people employed as Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners; it did not count the people who trained for it and are doing something else, and a rate built without that denominator would be a number we made up.
What the spread tells you
Top quarter to bottom quarter is 1.4x. In a band that narrow, $49,880 is a genuinely representative number for Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners and the main variable left is where you live.
In cash terms the middle half of Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners runs $43,530 to $61,060 — $17,530 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $49,880.
Between $43,530 and $61,060 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $49,880. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $11,180; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $17,530.
It is $6,350 from $49,880 down to $43,530 but $11,180 up to $61,060. When a range leans this far upward, the interesting question is what puts someone in the top half, because the money is disproportionately there.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $23.98 at the midpoint for Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners, $20.92 at the 25th percentile and $29.35 at the 75th, against $24.04 for the typical American job.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Employers reported these wages for people already working as Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners. The self-employed are excluded, so $49,880 does not describe an independent doing the same work.
The hourly number on this page is $49,880 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners, so it is arithmetic rather than an effective rate.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else