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Role hub · Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors

Garbage Man: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

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Updated Nov 4, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
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Median percentile pay

Half of garbage men earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$49,690
Hourly
$23.89
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Garbage Men collect and dump refuse or recyclable materials from containers into truck. The median pay is $49,690 a year ($23.89 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a high school diploma or equivalent (81% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$49,690
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
147,240
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 1-2 of 5
very little to some preparation
Most common education
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
81% of workers

Data Government data groups this job as Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors (O*NET-SOC 53-7081.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

Key facts

Garbage Men at a glance

  • Refuse and recyclable material collectors in the United States earned a median annual wage of $49,690 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists no formal educational credential as the typical entry-level education for refuse and recyclable material collectors in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of refuse and recyclable material collectors in the United States to grow 2.1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 15,500 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimates that less than 0.5% of refuse and recyclable material collectors in the United States had the ability to telework in 2025, a preliminary estimate of whether the job allows it, not a count of remote jobs.

    Source: BLS Occupational Requirements Survey, 2025 preliminary

Explore the role

Every page for Garbage Men

SalaryGarbage Man salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

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The work

What garbage men do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Inspect trucks prior to beginning routes to ensure safe operating condition.
  2. Drive trucks, following established routes, through residential streets or alleys or through business or industrial areas.
  3. Refuel trucks or add other fluids, such as oil or brake fluid.
  4. Dump refuse or recyclable materials at disposal sites.
  5. Fill out defective equipment reports.
  6. Operate automated or semi-automated hoisting devices that raise refuse bins and dump contents into openings in truck bodies.
  7. Dismount garbage trucks to collect garbage and remount trucks to ride to the next collection point.
  8. Operate equipment that compresses collected refuse.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Operations MonitoringcoreOperation and ControlcoreActive ListeningcoreSpeakingEquipment MaintenanceCritical ThinkingCoordinationReading ComprehensionSocial Perceptiveness

Knowledge areas: Mechanical.

Tools and technology

Software garbage men use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • AMCS PlatformAnalytical or scientific software
  • Computerized maintenance management system CMMSFacilities management software
  • Fleet management softwareMaterials requirements planning logistics and supply chain software
  • Global positioning system GPS softwareMobile location based services software
  • Payroll softwareTime accounting software
  • Routeware softwareMap creation software
  • SqueegeeCloud-based data access and sharing software
  • WAM softwareCompliance software
  • Dossier softwareData base user interface and query software
  • Mileage logging softwareData base user interface and query software

Also called: Front Load Trash Truck Driver, Recycle Driver, Refuse Collector, Roll Off Container Truck Driver, Roll Off Truck Driver.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).

How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.