How To Become A Rural Carrier: What It Is and Career Path

What is a rural carrier 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 rural carrier. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.39 an hour? That's $40,325 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -6% and produce -29,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreRural CarrierUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,325

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.8

Growth Rate -6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.56%

Asian 6.67%

Black or African American 11.89%

Hispanic or Latino 15.20%

Unknown 4.32%

White 61.36%

Gender

female 61.98%

male 38.02%

Age - 51

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 - 51

Stress Level

5.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.7

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.1

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a rural carrier

Explore rural carrier education requirements

Most common rural carrier degrees

High School Diploma

29.0 %

Associate

28.0 %

Bachelor's

26.2 %

Start to develop specific rural carrier skills

Skills	Percentages
Delivery Sequence	26.63%
Customer Service	24.92%
Mail Delivery	6.33%
Mail Security	6.28%
Necessary Paperwork	5.08%

Complete relevant rural carrier training and internships

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

Research rural carrier duties and responsibilities

Manage problems, conduct RCA investigations and deliver completed documentation.
Deliver mail to residences and business establishments along specify routes by driving personal vehicle approve by USPS.
Improve efficiency and safety of the route taken to deliver mail in order to comply with USPS regulations
Attend bid openings for prospective construction projects and prepared/draft construction contracts in accordance with RCA policies/procedures.

Prepare your rural carrier resume

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

Choose From 10+ Customizable Rural Carrier Resume templates

Build a professional Rural Carrier 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 Rural Carrier resume.