Is home inspection a good career?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) puts the median for building and home inspectors close to $75,000 a year. It lists a high school diploma as the usual entry education. It also projects little or no change in inspector jobs from 2025 to 2035, so most openings come from people leaving the work.

Checked on October 4, 2026

The outlook

BLS counted about 153,900 construction and building inspector jobs in 2025, home inspectors included. It projects 0% change by 2035, against an average of 3% for all occupations.

That isn't the same as no hiring. BLS still expects about 14,800 openings a year, most of them from inspectors who retire or change careers. One driver of the flat number is government work: BLS says remote inspections are expected to cut the need for state and local inspectors.

The pay

The median for the whole group was $74,690 in May 2025. That figure leaves out the self-employed, which includes any inspector who owns the business. An ASHI Reporter column put new home inspectors a little over $50,000 in average gross revenue. For what each number counts, see how much home inspectors make.

The work

A home inspector looks over a house and writes a report on its condition. BLS describes the schedule plainly: inspections during the day, reports in the evening. Inspectors also need a valid driver's license, since the work moves from house to house.

The way in

The barrier is training and a state exam, not a degree. 37 states license or register home inspectors, and the National Home Inspector Exam (NHIE) counts toward the license in 32 of them. The other 13 have no state license.

For the education rules, see do you need a degree to be a home inspector. For the full path, see how to become a home inspector. The BLS page on construction and building inspectors has the full federal data.

Questions people ask

Is home inspection stressful?

BLS notes that home inspectors typically inspect during the day and write reports in the evening. Some inspectors, especially the self-employed, work evenings and weekends.

Can home inspectors enforce the building code?

No. BLS says home inspectors can identify code violations but have no authority to enforce compliance. That job belongs to code inspectors who work for a city or county.

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