Occupation / job
Tile and Stone Setters
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
Tile and Stone Setters pays $55,690, a little over the $50,020 all-occupation midpoint — $5,670 a year clear, or $2.72 an hour. A margin that size is worth having but is not on its own a reason to take on an entry requirement.
With 35,850 employed as Tile and Stone Setters, most metros have a working market: several employers, visible turnover, and the ability to change jobs without moving house.
The building trades suit people who want to be paid to learn a craft rather than pay to learn a subject, and who can plan around work that stops when the project or the weather does.
We carry no verified training length for Tile and Stone Setters — BLS reports pay, not preparation, and we will not estimate it.
Who should not do this
$45,200 to $70,220 — 1.6x, or $2,085 a month between the quarters. An unremarkable spread, which means the useful planning number for Tile and Stone Setters is the bottom of it rather than the middle.
At $45,200 — $21.73 an hour — the 25th percentile of this field sits essentially at the $50,020 all-occupation midpoint. Being in the bottom quarter of Tile and Stone Setters still means being paid like the average American worker.
Avoid it if you have an existing back, knee or shoulder injury, or if intermittent layoffs between projects would be unmanageable.
There is no failure rate on this page because there is nothing honest to divide by. BLS counted 35,850 people employed as Tile and Stone Setters; 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
A 1.6x ratio is the most common shape in this data: some room to move, none of it quick. Read $55,690 as where you might be after years in Tile and Stone Setters, and $45,200 as where you would start.
The middle half of this field earns between $45,200 and $70,220. That is $25,020 of range, with $55,690 sitting inside it as the point half the field is above and half below.
Getting to $70,220, the 75th percentile, is worth $14,530 a year more than the $55,690 midpoint and $25,020 more than the $45,200 a quarter of Tile and Stone Setters settle for.
The climb from $55,690 to $70,220 is $14,530, against $10,490 down to $45,200. Rather more of the range sits above the midpoint than below it, so the realistic upside in Tile and Stone Setters is larger than the realistic downside.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $26.77 at the midpoint for Tile and Stone Setters, $21.73 at the 25th percentile and $33.75 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 Tile and Stone Setters. The self-employed are excluded, so $55,690 does not describe an independent doing the same work.
The hourly number on this page is $55,690 divided by a 2,080-hour year and nothing more. We hold no unpaid-hours or cost data for Tile and Stone Setters, 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