Career Explorer Construction and trades
Human edge, steady
Carpet installers
Lay and install carpet from rolls or blocks on floors. Install padding and trim flooring materials.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 36% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by -16.4% by 2035, expected to shrink. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $50,340
- Job growth to 2035
- -16.4%
- Openings a year
- 700
- People doing it (2025)
- 17,400
- Usual route in
- No formal credential, then short on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment
- Plan work activities
- Read documents or materials to inform work processes
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Build structures
- Cut materials
- Smooth surfaces of objects or equipment
What the work looks like
- Plan the layout of the carpet, allowing for expected traffic patterns and placing seams for best appearance and longest wear.
- Join edges of carpet and seam edges where necessary, by sewing or by using tape with glue and heated carpet iron.
- Cut carpet padding to size and install padding, following prescribed method.
- Cut and trim carpet to fit along wall edges, openings, and projections, finishing the edges with a wall trimmer.
- Stretch carpet to align with walls and ensure a smooth surface, and press carpet in place over tack strips or use staples, tape, tacks or glue to hold carpet in place.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as other floor coverings replace carpet.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleanersHuman edge, growing, Index 93, +7.8%
- Helpers--carpentersHuman edge, steady, Index 71, -1.7%
- Helpers--brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble settersHuman edge, steady, Index 52, -11.7%
- Helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfittersHuman edge, steady, Index 85, +2.4%
Also known as: Carpet Mechanic, Flooring Installer, Flooring Mechanic, Installer, Carpet Flooring Installer, Carpet Layer, Commercial Floor Covering Installer, Floor Coverer.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.