← All careers

Skilled Trades

Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

Design, fabricate, adjust, repair, or appraise jewelry, gold, silver, other precious metals, or gems.

Median salary (BLS)

$52,540

10th–90th percentile (BLS)

$36k – $88k

Job outlook

No separate BLS projection for this specific role

AI exposure

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports one wage for this occupational group, which covers 2 related roles — so read the median as an approximate group figure, and the range as the truer picture for this specific title. BLS source.

Early-career check: graduates of the matching programs below typically earn $70,000 ten years after starting college — an early-career figure, vs. the all-experience BLS median above. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard.

Plan a path to Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

Qualification costsStack incomeBest cities/statesSchool ROIJob-posting fitTailored resume

Education

Typical entry: No degree (trade/license)

Plan my path to this →

Typical progression

  1. Junior Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

    Entry / Junior

    $35,580

    ~2 yrs to advance

  2. Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

    Established

    $52,540

    ~3 yrs to advance

  3. Senior Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

    Senior

    $70,040

Key skills

A typical day

  • •Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
  • •Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
  • •Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
  • •Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
  • •Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.

Fields of study

Any field

Top colleges for Skilled Trades

Explore all

Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.