Pipefitter vs Electrician: Pay, Training and Lifestyle

On the federal numbers, the two trades are paid almost identically.

The median wage for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters — the BLS group pipefitters are counted in — was $63,800 a year in May 2025; the median electrician earned $63,190.

If you're choosing on pay alone, the data won't decide it for you.

The differences that are real, all from the same federal data:

• The work. BLS describes pipefitters and steamfitters as installing and maintaining pipes that may carry chemicals, acids, and gases, mostly in manufacturing, commercial, and industrial settings.
• Growth. Electrician employment is projected to grow 9.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 6.8% for the pipe-trade group; the all-occupation average is 3.5%.
• Openings. About 72,700 openings a year for electricians against about 42,000 for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters.
• Size. BLS counted 757,220 electrician jobs nationally in May 2025 against 465,840 on the pipe side — wage-and-salary workers, self-employed excluded.

One naming note before the details: BLS publishes one combined occupation, SOC 47-2152 "Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters," and no pipefitter-only wage or outlook — so every pipe-side figure on this page covers that whole group.

Electricians are their own occupation (SOC 47-2111).

We flag the boundary wherever it matters below.

Two signposts before you dive in: if the comparison you're actually weighing is the plumbing-service side against electrical, our plumber vs electrician guide covers that pairing, licensing included.

And for the pipefitter role itself — duties, levels, certifications — start at our pipefitter career guide.

The pipe-trade group runs ahead of the electrician figure on the median, the mean, and the 10th through 75th percentiles — every measure in the table below except the 90th, where the trades are effectively tied: $108,420 for the pipe-side group against $108,510 for electricians.

What the figures measure: wage-and-salary workers only, with the self-employed excluded.

The wage figures include base pay, commissions, and production bonuses, but exclude overtime, shift differentials, and non-production bonuses such as sign-on pay — so real annual earnings of techs who work overtime can exceed them.

Annual figures assume a 2,080-hour year.

The median is the middle wage: half earn more, half earn less.

Location moves these lines more than the trade choice does.

Ranked by annual median wage, the top metro areas run past $100,000 in both trades: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California leads the pipe-side group at $107,560, with Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $103,380, while Kankakee, Illinois tops the electrical list at $105,500 and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro follows at $105,090.

The highest industry medians are small niches, not typical jobs — electric power generation pays the pipe-side group's top industry median at $115,310; natural gas distribution tops electricians at $131,780.

The state-by-state tables for this combined occupation live on our plumber salary page — BLS counts pipefitters in the same occupation as plumbers — and our pipefitter salary page carries the national benchmark.

On the pipe side, BLS says most plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters learn the trade through a 4- or 5-year apprenticeship, with about 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training each year plus technical instruction.

On the union side, the United Association lists pipefitters, plumbers, steamfitters, sprinkler fitters, and welders among its trades; its apprenticeships are registered with the Department of Labor and typically last five years, and the UA says they include 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training per year plus 216 hours of related classroom instruction.

On the classroom side, NCCER's Pipefitting curriculum, for example, is organized in four levels (Level 1 through Level 4).

The federal floor under any registered apprenticeship — pipefitting or electrical — is worth knowing: an apprenticeable occupation must require at least 2,000 hours of on-the-job learning under the industry standard, and the Department of Labor recommends, but does not require, at least 144 hours of related technical instruction per year.

Federal rules don't set apprentice pay as a fixed percentage of the journeyworker rate — 29 CFR 29.5 requires only a progressively increasing schedule of wages — and the wage steps come from each registered program's standards or its collective bargaining agreement.

On the electrical side we keep the scope honest: this site's sourced research covers the HVAC and pipe trades, not electrical licensing or electrical apprenticeship standards, so we won't put a year count or an hour total on the electrical path.

Confirm both trades' requirements where you live before you enroll — with your state licensing board, or the city or county where licensing is local.

Both trades' single largest employer is the same industry: building equipment contractors.

In May 2025 that industry employed 340,140 of the pipe-side group and 560,290 of the electricians.

Where they diverge is the next tier: the pipe side's second-largest employer is utility system construction, at 14,960 jobs, while electricians' is employment services, at 20,510.

Pipefitting's industrial tilt runs through the occupation's own definition — BLS places pipefitters and steamfitters mostly in manufacturing, commercial, and industrial settings, on pipes that may carry chemicals, acids, and gases.

The clearest measured lifestyle difference is the injury record.

In 2023–2024 the pipe-trade group logged 144.5 days-away-from-work cases per 10,000 full-time workers — well above the 86.6 all-occupation rate — with a broader DART rate of 211.7; electricians' days-away rate was 96.6.

O*NET's survey adds exposure for the pipe side (it measures how often workers encounter conditions, not how often they're hurt): 21% of plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters report working in cramped spaces or awkward positions every day and 43% at least weekly; 25% are exposed to high places daily.

We don't hold the equivalent O*NET breakdown for electricians, so the condition comparison rests on the BLS rates alone.

Both trades are projected to grow faster than the 3.5% all-occupation average through 2035, but not at the same pace.

BLS's Employment Projections (2025–35, released August 27, 2026) put the pipe-trade group at 6.8% growth — 510.6k jobs rising to 545.2k, self-employed workers included — with about 42,000 openings a year on average.

Electricians are projected at 9.2% — 821.0k rising to 896.9k — with about 72,700 openings a year.

The openings gap tracks size in part: electricians are the larger occupation, so more jobs turn over in absolute terms.

Where the jobs sit, the two trades overlap heavily.

The most pipe-side jobs: California 47,660; Texas 44,090; Florida 29,260; New York 23,210; Illinois 16,750.

The most electrical jobs: Texas 76,770; California 73,310; Florida 49,700; New York 40,130; Ohio 28,950.

The same five metros fill both top fives — New York-Newark-Jersey City leads both lists (21,040 pipe-side jobs, 36,550 electrical), and Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston round out both.

Put together, the choice is between a faster-growing, larger electrical trade and a pipe trade that grows more slowly but still above the 3.5% all-occupation average.

If that trade sounds like yours, the pipefitter career guide and the rest of the pipefitter cluster take you from apprentice to journeyman.

This page compares careers using federal statistics; it is career information, not legal or licensing advice. Confirm licensing and apprenticeship requirements with your state licensing board — or the city or county where licensing is local — before you make decisions based on them.