A gas fitter installs, repairs, and maintains fuel gas piping and the appliances connected to it — the lines that carry natural gas or propane into homes and other buildings.
The work ranges from running new gas lines to connecting furnaces, boilers, and other gas-burning equipment, under a fuel gas code — NFPA 54 or the International Fuel Gas Code, depending on the jurisdiction — and state licensing rules.
This guide covers the job, US licensing, pay, and how to get in.
What is a gas fitter?
A gas fitter is a tradesperson who installs, repairs, and maintains fuel gas piping — the pipework that carries natural gas or propane from the meter or tank to the appliances that burn it — and who connects and disconnects those appliances.
The trade sits in the pipe trades alongside plumbing and pipefitting, but it centers on one system: the fuel gas piping in homes and other buildings.
The job title changes with the jurisdiction.
Massachusetts licenses gas fitters.
New Hampshire licenses fuel gas fitters.
Utah's credential is a certification — the Certified Natural Gas Technician — and Maine licenses propane and natural gas technicians.
Behind the different names is one trade: getting fuel gas from the meter or tank to the appliance safely.
The trade's rulebook is a fuel gas code, and which one depends on where you are.
NFPA 54, published jointly as ANSI Z223.1 — the National Fuel Gas Code — sets minimum safety requirements for the design and installation of fuel gas piping systems in homes and other buildings; NFPA lists 2027 as the current edition.
Other jurisdictions adopt the International Fuel Gas Code instead: Louisiana's gas fitter exam tests the 2021 edition, and the Minnesota Mechanical Code is based on the 2012 edition with state amendments.
The edition in force where you work may not be the current one, because codes are adopted locally.
Where gas fitting ends and plumbing or pipefitting begins depends on where you are.
Standalone gas-fitter credentials — separate from the plumber licence — exist in states including Alabama, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Virginia.
In New York City, by contrast, gas piping is plumbing work performed under a Master Plumber with a DOB Gas Work Qualification.
Which credential covers the work in front of you is a state (and sometimes city) question — the licensing section below sums it up.
What gas fitters install: piping, CSST, and appliances
The piping side of the job covers new installs, replacement, and repair.
Fuel gas piping in buildings runs in metal pipe and in corrugated stainless steel tubing (CSST), and a gas fitter sizes, cuts, joins, and supports the runs, carries them to each appliance, and caps lines that come out of service.
The appliance side is the connection work: setting and connecting furnaces, boilers, water heaters, ranges, and other gas-burning equipment, and disconnecting appliances being replaced.
Because an appliance connection is only as good as the piping behind it, the jurisdiction's fuel gas code governs both sides of the work.
Gas fitters work wherever fuel gas is piped: single-family homes, apartment buildings, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and commercial and industrial buildings.
Building gas fitters vs utility gas fitters
Gas work divides at the meter.
Building gas fitters work the customer side: the piping inside homes and buildings, from the meter or tank to the appliances.
Utility gas fitters work for the companies that own the pipeline system itself — the mains and service lines that bring gas to the meter.
The two sides are regulated differently.
Utility-side work falls under federal pipeline safety rules: 49 CFR Part 192, Subpart N requires pipeline operators to qualify the individuals who perform covered tasks on a pipeline facility — the Operator Qualification rule.
An individual who is not qualified may perform a covered task only when directed and observed by a qualified individual.
On the building side, it is state and local licensing that decides who may do the work, on top of the fuel gas code's installation requirements.
The split matters for a job search, because the two sides run on different systems: a state or local licence on the building side, and the pipeline operator's Operator Qualification program on the utility side.
Utility gas fitter jobs are a career path of their own.
Gas fitter licensing in the US
Gas fitter licensing is state run — the credential, its name, and its scope are decided by each state, and cities and counties can layer requirements on top.
Standalone gas-fitter credentials, separate from the plumber licence, exist in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.
The names are the states' own.
Alaska licenses a Plumber Gas classification.
New Hampshire licenses fuel gas fitters, Utah's is the Certified Natural Gas Technician certification, Maine licenses propane and natural gas technicians, and North Carolina licenses fuel piping.
Propane is its own layer.
Texas puts LP-gas (propane) work under the Railroad Commission rather than its licensing departments: each individual must pass an RRC exam for the activity they perform and work for an RRC-licensed company.
Separate LP-gas credentials or regulators also appear in Arkansas, Alabama, Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and Virginia.
The licensing map reaches neighboring trades, too.
HVAC techs who work on gas-fired equipment need a separate state gas credential in New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts; in New York City, gas piping is plumbing work performed under a Master Plumber with a DOB Gas Work Qualification.
This page is career information, not legal advice. Confirm licensing requirements with your state licensing board or local building department.
Rules change — confirm with your board
How much do gas fitters make?
Federal wage data does not single gas fitters out.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' OEWS survey counts gas fitters inside one combined category with plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters — SOC 47-2152 — and publishes no gas-fitter-only wage, so the closest federal benchmark is the combined category's.
In May 2025, the median wage for that combined category was $30.67 per hour, or $63,800 per year — half the occupation earned more, half earned less.
The middle half earned between $50,190 and $85,110 a year.
The combined category counted 465,840 wage-and-salary jobs nationally.
Two caveats keep the number honest.
It is a combined-category figure, not a gas-fitter-specific one.
And OEWS wages exclude overtime pay, shift differentials, and non-production bonuses such as sign-on pay, so workers with substantial overtime can out-earn the survey figures.
The state-by-state breakdown is on our gas fitter salary page.
How do you become a gas fitter?
There is no single national route into the trade — the credential is set by the state you work in (and sometimes the city or county), so the first step is finding out which licence or certification covers gas fitting where you live.
The licensing section above lists the states that issue standalone gas-fitter credentials; where no standalone credential exists, another licence or a local rule may cover the work, and your state board can tell you which.
The knowledge base is the fuel gas code — NFPA 54 or the International Fuel Gas Code, whichever the state or city adopts.
It sets the minimum safety requirements gas work has to meet, and it is the standard a new gas fitter learns to work to.
On the utility side, entry runs through the operator: federal rules have pipeline operators qualify the individuals who perform covered tasks, and a worker who is not qualified can perform a covered task only while directed and observed by someone who is.
State-specific requirements — supervised hours, exams, fees — vary by state, and this guide does not compile them; confirm the current requirements with your state licensing board before you apply.
When you are ready to look, you can browse gas fitter jobs on HVACHires — the job board built only for HVAC and plumbing.