Plumbing Apprentice Statistics 2026: Job Market, Pay, Demand & Workforce

HVACHires had 356 open plumbing apprentice listings from 184 employers on October 13, 2026.

192 were first posted in the previous 14 days and 229 in the previous 30 days.

At least 0.8% of plumbing apprentice listings were part-time on October 13, 2026.

Listings that name no schedule are counted as full-time, so the real part-time share may be higher.

The benefit plumbing apprentice listings named most often on October 13, 2026 was paid time off, in 67.1% of listings, followed by health insurance (56.7%).

A listing that does not mention a benefit may still offer it.

To browse the openings themselves, see all plumbing apprentice listings.

BLS publishes no wage for plumbing apprentices; the bottom of the plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters pay range ran from $44,150 to $50,190 a year in May 2025 (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-2152 (whole trade)).

Employers hiring plumbing apprentices on HVACHires advertise a median of $20.75 an hour across 112 employers on October 13, 2026; this is advertised pay, not earnings.

For BLS pay by percentile, see the plumbing apprentice salary guide.

California had the most open plumbing apprentice listings on October 13, 2026, with 37 (10.4% of the national total).

Texas followed with 33 (9.3%).

To browse the openings in one state, start with plumbing apprentice openings in California.

184 employers had open plumbing apprentice listings on HVACHires on October 13, 2026, and the five largest posted 40.4% of them.

165 employers (89.7%) had exactly one open plumbing apprentice listing.

BLS counted 465,840 wage-and-salary jobs in plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (SOC 47-2152) in May 2025, a count that excludes the self-employed (BLS OEWS).

330,570 of those jobs, 71%, were at plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors in May 2025 (BLS OEWS, NAICS 238220; share calculated).

BLS projects employment of plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (SOC 47-2152) to grow 6.8% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 42,000 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35).

For what drives that projection, and whether the trade is short of workers, see the plumber job outlook.

For how to enter the field, see the plumbing apprentice career guide.

Listing figures are computed from every active, paid plumbing apprentice listing on HVACHires at the time shown, and refreshed every six hours.

Listings on a job board are not a random sample of all plumbing apprentice jobs, so read them as a picture of current hiring, not of total employment.

Advertised pay is the midpoint of the range an employer posts, or its single figure, and hourly and annual postings are never converted into each other.

The headline is the employer median: each employer’s own median, then the median across employers, so a contractor or franchise network posting hundreds of openings counts once.

A pay figure needs at least 30 listings from 10 employers and is withheld when one employer posted more than half of them.

Federal figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025 and Employment Projections 2025–35) and are quoted as published, with the year in each sentence.

OEWS wages cover wage-and-salary workers only and leave out overtime and the self-employed.