DIY woodworking sits inside a much larger home-improvement economy. In 2021, U.S. homeowners completed 135.0 million home projects, including 53.0 million do-it-yourself projects. That made DIY 39% of all home projects, according to the Census Bureau’s Owning or Renting the American Dream. The figures below put woodworking in context: how often people improve homes, what projects cost, how homeowners use garages and workshops, and what the professional wood-products workforce looks like.
Contents
- DIY activity and project volume
- What homeowners spend
- Where DIY spending goes
- Workshops, tools, and project inspiration
- Older homes and repair needs
- Woodworking jobs and wages
DIY activity and project volume
The Census Bureau reported that 49.0 million homeowners made home improvements in 2021, equal to 59% of homeowners. The same source counted 53.0 million DIY projects among 135.0 million total home projects. These are project counts rather than counts of unique people, so one homeowner could be represented by more than one project.
More recent HIRI survey figures describe a similarly active project cycle. At the end of 2023, 61% of homeowners said they planned at least one home-improvement activity during the next 90 days. HIRI also reported that 79% of homeowners tackle multiple improvement projects annually. The average number of completed projects rose from 2.7 in 2015 to 3.4 in 2023.
Planned work was not limited to large renovations. In HIRI’s 2024 planning figures, 18% of homeowners planned a bathroom remodel, 16% planned a kitchen remodel, and 12% planned to replace or refinish flooring. These categories are not woodworking-only, but they show the surrounding market in which cabinet, trim, shelving, furniture, and built-in projects compete for time and budget.
Budget pressure was a meaningful constraint. HIRI reported that 61% of homeowners who postponed or canceled a project in December 2023 cited budget or financial concerns. In a separate 2026 HIRI figure, homeowners had spent an average of about $21,000 on home improvement during the previous 12 months, while median total spending was about $11,500. The measures are different: an average can be pulled upward by high-spending households, while the median identifies the middle household.
What homeowners spend
The Census Bureau reported a $5,000 median home-improvement spend for homeowners in 2021. Median project-category spending varied considerably:
| Improvement category | Median spend in 2021 |
|---|---|
| Kitchen remodeling | $6,000 |
| HVAC-related improvements | $4,200 |
| Bathroom remodeling | $3,500 |
| Floor, panel, or ceiling tile improvements | $2,000 |
| Doors and windows | $1,900 |
These medians cover the named improvement categories, not specifically woodworking. They are useful benchmarks for estimating how a cabinet, workbench, built-in, door, or trim project may fit within a homeowner’s broader improvement budget, but they should not be treated as prices for a particular woodworking job.
JCHS reported a typical DIY project cost of $2,600 in 2023, compared with an average professional project cost of $7,800. The two figures use different statistics—typical versus average—so they are not a precise DIY-versus-professional price comparison. They do indicate a substantial difference between a representative DIY project and the average professionally completed project in that dataset.
Homeowners’ expected spending was lower in another HIRI 2026 measure: homeowners expected to spend about $3,100 on home improvement over the next 12 months. HIRI also reported that the Consumer Confidence Index was down more than 18% year over year in that context. The spending expectation and confidence measure describe a particular survey period, not a permanent change in household behavior.
Where DIY spending goes
JCHS divided DIY improvement spending into four project types. Discretionary projects accounted for 36% of DIY spending, replacement projects for 40%, optional outside-property projects for 19%, and disaster repairs for 5%. The categories sum to the full DIY spending mix in the supplied breakdown.
The professional spending mix differed: discretionary projects represented 29%, replacement projects 50%, optional outside-property projects 15%, and disaster repairs 6%. Replacement work therefore made up the largest category for both DIY and professional spending, while discretionary work represented a larger share of DIY spending than professional spending.
JCHS also found that the balance between DIY and professional work varied by homeowner group. Owners age 65 and over devoted more than 88% of improvement dollars to professionally installed projects on average. Owners under age 35 devoted 76% to professional installations. By home value, the highest-value quintile devoted 90% of improvement spending to professional installations, compared with 73% in the lowest-value quintile.
Length of ownership showed another difference. Owners who had lived in their homes for at least 20 years dedicated 87% of their improvement budget to professional installations, while owners who had bought within the prior three years dedicated 80%. These are spending shares, not claims that one group completed no DIY work.
The broader remodeling market exceeded $600 billion, according to JCHS, and remained 50% above pre-pandemic levels. The estimate covers the U.S. remodeling market, not just DIY woodworking. It helps explain why relatively small woodworking projects exist within a very large renovation sector.
Workshops, tools, and project inspiration
Stanley Black & Decker reported that 81% of adults were gearing up for DIY endeavors in spring 2024. In the same research, 95% said a spring refresh was important, 59% said they handled indoor spring cleaning themselves, and 90% of homeowners planned to invest in high-quality tools for spring projects.
The research also shows where people look for ideas and instruction. In 2024, 69% of adults turned to YouTube for guidance on new projects, while 51% of Gen Z respondents used TikTok for DIY ideas. Among Gen Z respondents, 42% planned to focus on bedroom improvements in 2024. These figures describe broad DIY behavior, so they should not be read as woodworking-platform usage rates.
At-home work areas were common in another Stanley Black & Decker survey. In 2022, 53% of U.S. adults said they used their garage or an at-home workshop for DIY projects. Millennials were the most frequent at-home DIYers at 62%, followed by Gen X at 56% and Gen Z at 54%.
Organization was a recurring workshop issue. Thirty-six percent of Americans said their garage was so cluttered they could no longer park vehicles inside, and 62% said the garage was the most cluttered space in their home. Fifty-two percent of Americans with garages were dissatisfied with how their garage was organized, while 90% believed that a well-organized garage can make a small garage appear larger.
Older homes and repair needs
The Census Bureau reported that 15% of homeowners nationwide lived in an older home, with “older” referring to the study’s defined older-home category. In 2021, the median age of all owned homes was 41 years, and homes built before 1950 made up about 17% of owned homes. Owners of homes built before 1950 spent a median of $1,800 per year on upkeep.
About 61% of owners of older homes started a home-improvement project between 2019 and 2021. Those owners spent a median of $4,100 on all home-improvement projects during that period. Among owners who undertook at least one project, the median spend was about $700 for each 500 square feet of living space. New owners spent a median of 1.5% of home value annually on improvement and maintenance, compared with 0.6% for longtime owners.
The median age of owners of older homes was 58, and 26% of households in older homes had children. About 10% of homes owned by Asian American and Pacific Islander householders were built before 1950, compared with about 7% of homes owned by American Indian and Alaska Native householders. These subgroup figures describe the Census Bureau’s reported housing categories and should not be generalized beyond them.
Repair conditions also create opportunities for practical DIY work, although not every repair is suitable for an amateur. In 2021, 11.4 million occupied housing units reported water leakage from outside the home, 7.2 million had open cracks or holes inside, and 5.0 million had crumbling or open cracks or holes in the foundation. The Census Bureau also reported mold in the previous 12 months in 3.8 million occupied housing units.
Other reported conditions included 15.3 million occupied units with signs of mice or rats inside the home, 14.5 million with signs of cockroaches, and 2.5 million with no working toilet at some point during the previous three months. These counts are housing-condition statistics, not measures of woodworking demand. They show why maintenance and repair are a major part of the wider home-improvement environment.
Woodworking jobs and wages
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported about 214,600 woodworker jobs in 2024. Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters accounted for 86,000 of those jobs; woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders except sawing accounted for 63,100; sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders accounted for 45,000; and furniture finishers accounted for 20,500.
By industry, furniture and related product manufacturing employed 39% of woodworkers, wood product manufacturing employed 36%, self-employed workers accounted for 7%, and specialty trade contractors accounted for 3%. These percentages describe the BLS occupational distribution and do not represent the share of all DIY hobbyists who sell their work.
The median annual wage for woodworkers was $43,720 in May 2024. The lowest 10% earned less than $31,370, while the highest 10% earned more than $59,570. Median wages varied by occupation and industry:
| Woodworking role or industry | Median annual wage |
|---|---|
| Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters | $46,020 |
| Furniture finishers | $42,530 |
| Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders except sawing | $40,440 |
| Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood | $39,950 |
| Specialty trade contractors | $47,800 |
| Furniture and related product manufacturing | $45,200 |
| Wood product manufacturing | $40,350 |
BLS projected overall woodworker employment to decline 2% from 2024 to 2034, while still projecting about 21,400 openings per year on average over that decade. Separately, the wood product manufacturing subsector employed 395.2 thousand people in December 2025, including 303.3 thousand production and nonsupervisory employees. Its unemployment rate was 2.4% that month, and the subsector had 16,136 private-industry establishments in the fourth quarter of 2024. Labor productivity in wood product manufacturing rose 1.0% in 2024.