Highest-Paying Skilled Trades: Where HVAC and Plumbing Rank

Any honest ranking starts with the measurement.

The figures below are BLS median wages for wage-and-salary workers from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 — the latest release, published May 15, 2026.

Every trade is ranked by one statistic, the median: half of the workers in the trade earned more, half earned less.

OEWS excludes the self-employed, and it excludes overtime pay, shift differentials and non-production bonuses; it does include commissions, production bonuses and tips.

The ranking, by median annual wage:

The table counts field trades.

Above them sit the supervisor and management rungs many techs move into: first-line supervisors of construction trades earned a $79,920 median, first-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers $79,860, and construction managers $114,990.

Below them sits the helper rung — plumbing's trade-specific helper category (SOC 47-3015) has a $42,360 median.

Sheet metal workers are the ranking's quiet HVAC story.

Of their 119,770 wage-and-salary jobs, the largest employer group is building equipment contractors — the industry group that includes HVAC and plumbing shops — with 53,690 jobs.

Their $61,800 median puts them just above HVACR mechanics, though projected growth is 2.5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,800 openings a year.

Their top-paying metros out-earn HVAC's: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA ($109,830) and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($109,280), by median.

A note on scope: some "highest-paying trades" lists include elevator installers and power line workers.

Our research did not verify wage data for those occupations, so they are not ranked here — every figure on this page traces to a published BLS estimate.

Two of the ranked trades get closer treatment elsewhere on this site: HVAC technician vs electrician compares the two middle-of-the-table trades directly, and our salary pages carry the full state tables for each trade we cover.

Plumbers take fifth place in the table: a $63,800 median, or $30.67 an hour, in May 2025 (SOC 47-2152).

That places them above electricians ($63,190) and structural iron and steel workers ($62,780), and $2,790 above HVACR mechanics at the median.

The trade counted 465,840 wage-and-salary jobs nationally.

The upside case is real.

The 90th-percentile wage was $108,420, and the percentiles put somewhere between 10% and 25% of the trade at $100,000 or more in measured pay — BLS does not publish the exact share.

Growth is projected at 6.8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 42,000 openings a year.

Where the jobs are: California (47,660), Texas (44,090) and Florida (29,260) lead the states, and the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro has the most jobs of any metro at 21,040.

The top-paying metros by median are different cities: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($107,560); Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN ($103,380); Bellingham, WA ($102,750); Minneapolis-St.

Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI ($101,630); and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA ($101,010).

Most of the trade — 340,140 jobs — works for building equipment contractors.

For the full percentile ladder and every state, see our plumber salary page — and when you are ready to work, browse plumbing jobs.

HVACR mechanics and installers take ninth place: a $61,010 median, $29.33 an hour (SOC 49-9021), with 409,670 wage-and-salary jobs.

The median sits below sheet metal workers ($61,800) and above carpenters ($60,580) — the middle of the skilled-trades pack.

The rank understates demand.

BLS projects 10.9% growth from 2025 to 2035 — more than triple the 3.5% average for all occupations — with about 40,600 openings a year.

The measured ceiling is the trade's weak spot: the 90th-percentile wage was $95,210, and fewer than 10% of HVACR mechanics earned $100,000 or more in OEWS-measured pay.

Geography moves the number.

Florida (39,160), California (35,130) and Texas (34,730) hold the most jobs, and the top-paying metros by median are Fairbanks-College, AK ($93,820); Anchorage, AK ($85,620); Napa, CA ($84,570); San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($82,050); and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA ($80,100).

The New York metro has the most jobs (21,820) but does not make the pay list.

Most techs — 305,330 — work for building equipment contractors.

The highest industry medians look spectacular (computer systems design $115,910, scheduled air transportation $114,080, natural gas distribution $105,630), but BLS flags those as small niches, not typical jobs.

The full percentile and state tables are on our HVAC salary page.

Medians and means tell different halves of the story.

In each of the three trades here with a cited mean, the average runs above the median because top earners pull it up: HVAC's mean was $64,780 against its $61,010 median; the plumber mean was $72,170 against a $63,800 median; sheet metal workers' mean was $67,850 against $61,800.

This page ranks by median throughout.

The $100,000 line splits the table in two.

Six trades clear it at the 90th percentile: construction and building inspectors ($114,200), boilermakers ($110,370), electricians ($108,510), plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters ($108,420), structural iron and steel workers ($108,260), and sheet metal workers ($105,650).

Carpenters land just under at $99,910, while HVACR mechanics ($95,210), industrial machinery mechanics ($95,170) and millwrights ($93,600) top out below the line.

How many actually get there: fewer than 10% of HVACR mechanics earned $100,000 or more in May 2025 measured pay, against somewhere between 10% and 25% of plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters.

Put the two trades side by side and the plumber median is $2,790 higher — a gap that widens to $13,210 at the 90th percentile ($108,420 vs $95,210).

Two fine-print items before you quote any of this.

First, the outlier industries: HVAC mechanics in computer systems design ($115,910), plumbers in electric power generation ($115,310), and sheet metal workers in general medical and surgical hospitals ($104,780) all post six-figure medians, but BLS flags each as a small niche, not typical employment.

Second, OEWS excludes overtime pay, shift differentials and non-production bonuses while including commissions and production bonuses — so a tech working peak-season overtime can out-earn the published figures.

The trades at the top of the table are not the cheapest to enter.

BLS describes HVAC training as a postsecondary nondegree award — programs of 6 months to 2 years — followed by lengthy on-the-job training, with some techs training through multi-year apprenticeships.

Most plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters learn through a 4- or 5-year apprenticeship with typically 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training plus technical instruction each year, sponsored by unions, trade associations, and businesses.

There is no BLS starting-pay statistic to quote.

The closest proxies are the bottom percentiles: for HVAC, the 10th percentile was $19.25 an hour ($40,050 a year) and the 25th $23.25 ($48,360); for plumbing, the 10th was $21.22 ($44,150) and the 25th $24.13 ($50,190), with the plumbing helper median at $20.36 an hour.

Read together, the trade-off is this: plumbing's $2,790 median premium comes with the longer formal program — a typical 4- or 5-year apprenticeship against HVAC's 6-month-to-2-year schooling — and the slower growth outlook, 6.8% against 10.9% over 2025–35.

HVAC trades a lower measured ceiling — $95,210 at the 90th percentile — for that shorter formal program and faster outlook.

Neither number promises anything about your first offer; location and employer re-price every row in the table.

These figures are national medians for wage-and-salary workers — a snapshot, not a promise about any offer. Pay information here is career information, not financial or legal advice; confirm current data with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and compare real offers in your market.