Work the deck of a tug, ferry or cargo ship. No degree, but you live where you work.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$51,520
New hand
$34,560
Experienced, union or offshore
$83,620
The national median is $51,520 a year, and the bottom tenth start near $34,560. The federal survey files this job under Sailors and Marine Oilers, which lumps deckhands in with the people who oil the engines, so the figures cover a slightly wider group than the job title.
About $150 to $300 a day
Day rate on a tug or supply boat, paid only for days aboard
Most boat work runs in hitches: two weeks on and two weeks off, or 28 and 28. You are paid for days aboard, so the annual total depends on how many hitches you take.
$83,620 at the top tenth
Experienced hands on offshore boats and union deep sea ships
While you are aboard, meals and your bunk cost you nothing and there is nowhere to spend money. Deckhands who watch their spending can bank most of a hitch's pay, which is why the job suits people saving for something.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is paperwork only: the Merchant Mariner Credential application fee paid to the United States Coast Guard, the Transportation Worker Identification Credential card at $124 for five years, and a medical certificate with a drug test. The high end adds the week long basic safety training course at a maritime school, paid for yourself before anyone has hired you. Many companies and unions run that course in house or pay for it once you are on the books, which is why the order matters. Ask a prospective employer first, because this is often money you never need to spend.
Many companies and unions pay for the safety course once they hire you, or run it in-house. Ask before you spend your own money, because the order matters.
Equal time off
Two weeks on, two weeks off is common. You get half the year ashore.
Free food and lodging aboard
No rent, no groceries, no commute for the whole hitch.
Union benefits
Deep sea and harbor work is heavily unionized, with health coverage and a pension.
Overtime
Long days at sea are normal and most contracts pay overtime past eight hours.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
One of the few well paid jobs you can start within months of leaving high school.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Not always required, but it opens far more doors and every union program wants one.
Get your documents
2 to 3 months
A Transportation Worker Identification Credential from the Transportation Security Administration, a medical certificate, and a drug test.
Merchant Mariner Credential
1 to 3 months to process
Apply to the United States Coast Guard National Maritime Center for the entry level credential, rated Ordinary Seaman.
Get hired and go to sea
First hitch
Tug companies, ferries, offshore supply boats and unions all hire green hands. Expect to start at the bottom of the crew.
Build sea time and upgrade
6 months to 3 years of sea time
With enough days at sea you can test up to Able Seaman, which raises your rate and the boats you can work.
Shop or welding
Deck work is maintenance: chipping, painting, splicing, rigging and small repairs.
Physical education
The job is lifting and handling heavy lines in bad weather.
Math
Cargo weights, tide tables and fuel figures all need arithmetic you can do in your head.
English
Log entries and safety checklists have to be written clearly enough for the next watch.
The United States Coast Guard does, nationally, through its National Maritime Center. Your Merchant Mariner Credential is a federal document, so unlike most American licensing it works in every state. You also need a Transportation Worker Identification Credential from the Transportation Security Administration to get into a secure port, which costs $124 and lasts five years. Both require a background check, and a drug conviction can stop you cold. Commercial mariners are in random drug testing programs for their whole careers.
Straight to a boat
Tug, ferry and offshore companies hire green deckhands and train them aboard. The most common way in.
Union apprentice programs
Maritime unions run entry level training programs that place you on ships afterwards, often free if you commit to sailing.
State maritime academies
Massachusetts Maritime Academy and five others run four year degrees, but those aim at officer licenses, not deck jobs.
Private maritime schools
Short courses in basic safety training, lifeboat handling and firefighting, taken as you need them.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Able Seaman
The main upgrade. Needs sea time plus an exam, and moves you up the pay scale on every boat.
Lifeboatman
Qualifies you to take charge of a survival craft. Required on many larger vessels.
Tankerman
For boats carrying fuel and chemicals. One of the biggest single jumps in pay on the water.
Radar observer
A step toward the wheelhouse and a mate's license later on.
Welding or diesel basics
A deckhand who can fix things gets kept on through slow seasons.
A clean record
The background check for a Transportation Worker Identification Credential is real, and so is the drug testing.
No seasickness
Find out on a fishing charter in rough weather before you sign a contract.
Getting along with people
You cannot walk away from a crew of six for 28 days. This matters more than any certificate.
Deckhand is an entry point, not a ceiling. Sea time counts toward the licenses above it: Able Seaman first, then a mate's license on smaller vessels, then master of a towing vessel or a ferry. People who go this route end up running boats without ever paying for a four year academy degree, which is why plenty of captains on tugs and workboats started by chipping paint. It is slower than the academy route and you earn the whole way.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Watches usually run six hours on and six off, around the clock. On watch you steer when the mate tells you, stand lookout, and keep the deck moving: handling lines when the boat makes up to a barge or comes alongside, chipping and painting rust, greasing winches, checking lashings. Meals are whenever your watch allows. Off watch you sleep in a bunk a few feet from a running engine, then get up and do it again.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, usually called the Jones Act, requires that cargo moved between two United States ports travels on ships that are American built, American flagged and crewed mostly by Americans. It is the reason there is a domestic deck job market at all.
Most American workboats run two watches. You work six hours, sleep six, and repeat for the length of the hitch. There is no such thing as a full night's sleep at sea, and crews say the first few days of every hitch are the worst.
Almost every licensed job in the United States is controlled state by state. Mariners are the exception. The United States Coast Guard issues one credential that is good on any American vessel, anywhere.
Barges pushed by towboats carry a huge share of the country's grain, coal, steel and fuel up and down the Mississippi River system. A single towboat can push dozens of barges holding as much cargo as hundreds of trucks.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise.