How To Become A Crane Rigger: What It Is and Career Path

What is a crane rigger and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a crane rigger. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.38 an hour? That's $42,387 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 56,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCrane RiggerUS Average

Salary

3.3

Avg. Salary $42,387

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.9

Growth Rate 7%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.69%

Asian 2.39%

Black or African American 16.12%

Hispanic or Latino 17.35%

Unknown 7.41%

White 56.04%

Gender

female 3.89%

male 96.11%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress Level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.3

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a crane rigger

Explore crane rigger education requirements

Most common crane rigger degrees

High School Diploma

55.8 %

Associate

17.7 %

Diploma

14.3 %

Start to develop specific crane rigger skills

Skills	Percentages
Cranes	34.54%
CDL	19.69%
Pulleys	6.47%
Slings	6.25%
Hand Signals	5.29%

Complete relevant crane rigger training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New crane riggers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a crane rigger based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real crane rigger resumes.

Research crane rigger duties and responsibilities

Wire rope slings, chain slings, eye-bolts, etc.
Inspect all ppe and rigging equipment.
Coordinate all safety efforts with management to meet or exceed requirements of client specifications and OSHA regulations.
Operate telescoping boom industrial forklifts in process of loading and unloading structural steel and heavy, large piping and pipe spools.

Prepare your crane rigger resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your crane rigger resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a crane rigger resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Crane Rigger Resume templates

Build a professional Crane Rigger resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Crane Rigger resume.

Apply for crane rigger jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a crane rigger job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do crane riggers rate their job?

-/5

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Crane Rigger reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2020

Pros

With concentration, using the right lifting material, watching for safe environment while lifting and offloading, having the LMI working etc, you'll have a less accident work delivery.

Cons

Other works going on around lifting and offloading point, etc.

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019