How To Become A Sailor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sailor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a sailor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.95 an hour? That's $47,746 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSailorUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,746

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

8.1

Growth Rate 1%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.74%

Asian 5.04%

Black or African American 15.04%

Hispanic or Latino 13.88%

Unknown 9.50%

White 54.79%

Gender

female 18.87%

male 81.13%

Age - 31

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 - 31

Stress Level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.7

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

1.9

Work Life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sailor

Explore sailor education requirements

Most common sailor degrees

Bachelor's

37.7 %

High School Diploma

37.3 %

Associate

12.3 %

Start to develop specific sailor skills

Skills	Percentages
Sailors	25.11%
Flight Deck	15.06%
Logistics	9.37%
Firefighting	8.91%
CPR	7.39%

Complete relevant sailor training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sailors 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 sailor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sailor resumes.

Research sailor duties and responsibilities

Implement logistics support and material plan to manage advance shipment of hazardous goods to area of responsibility.
Supervise and train junior sailors at the helm and lee helm (controlling the steering and speed of the ship).
Provide valuable expertise experience and leadership.
Provide training for personnel in basic firefighting procedures.

Prepare your sailor resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sailor 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 sailor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Sailor Resume templates

Build a professional Sailor 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 Sailor resume.