SOC 43-5052.00

    Postal Service Mail Carriers

    Sort and deliver mail for the United States Postal Service (USPS).

    Median pay
    $60,550
    Growth
    -0.3%
    Little or no change
    Openings a year
    19,600
    Typical education
    No formal credential

    Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition

    Source: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections

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    Annual pay range

    Lowest 10% earn less than
    $42,390
    Median
    $60,550
    Highest 10% earn more than
    $81,040
    National wages for all workers in this occupation. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

    328,820 people work in this occupation.

    What postal service mail carriers do

    Job Zone 2: Some preparation

    Sort and deliver mail for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Deliver mail on established route by vehicle or on foot. Includes postal service mail carriers employed by USPS contractors.

    Usually a high school diploma; some on-the-job training or experience.

    Interest profile

    Realistic (R)
    43 / 100
    Investigative (I)
    0 / 100
    Artistic (A)
    0 / 100
    Social (S)
    28 / 100
    Enterprising (E)
    32 / 100
    Conventional (C) · strongest
    88 / 100
    How strongly each interest area describes the work, from O*NET (scores rescaled to 0–100). The interest code lists the strongest areas in order.

    Interest code CRE. Compare it with yours

    What you'd do

    Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment
    80
    Performing General Physical Activities
    77
    Handling and Moving Objects
    74
    Getting Information
    62
    Performing for or Working Directly with the Public
    62
    Communicating with People Outside the Organization
    59
    Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
    49
    Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
    48
    Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
    48
    Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
    43
    Work activities rated by importance for this occupation, O*NET (0–100).

    Skills and strengths

    Skills

    • Active Listening
    • Critical Thinking
    • Social Perceptiveness
    • Speaking
    • Time Management
    • Coordination
    • Judgment and Decision Making
    • Monitoring
    • Reading Comprehension
    • Service Orientation

    Knowledge

    • Customer and Personal Service
    • English Language
    • Public Safety and Security
    • Sales and Marketing
    • Transportation
    • Administration and Management
    • Production and Processing
    • Education and Training
    • Administrative
    • Mathematics

    Abilities

    • Information Ordering
    • Near Vision
    • Arm-Hand Steadiness
    • Category Flexibility
    • Oral Comprehension
    • Problem Sensitivity
    • Speech Clarity
    • Speech Recognition
    • Trunk Strength
    • Written Comprehension

    Work styles

    • Dependability
    • Attention to Detail
    • Integrity
    • Perseverance
    • Cooperation
    • Stress Tolerance
    • Self-Control
    • Cautiousness
    • Social Orientation
    • Sincerity

    Also called

    Carrier · Carrier Associate · Carrier Driver · City Carrier · City Carrier Assistant (CCA) · City Letter Carrier · City Mail Carrier · Clerk Carrier · Collector · Delivery and Mail Sorter

    Your plan

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    Related careers

    Careers with similar work, interests or skills.

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    Sources and attribution

    Every figure on this page comes from these public datasets. Missing values are shown as not reported, never estimated.

    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. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.

    Page data updated November 5, 2026.