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Trade apprenticeships: what they pay and where they are
U.S. Department of Labor records list registered apprentices in each of the 15 trades tracked here: from 942 active under the titles it maps to bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists to 84,362 under those it maps to electricians, across the 50 states and the District of Columbia in fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 to September 2024). Each trade's page gives every state's count and, where 50 or more apprentices carry the wage, the median they started at and the median at completion in fiscal 2023.
| Trade | Active apprentices, fiscal 2024 | Starting wage, state medians | Wage at completion, state medians | BLS median, May 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricians | 84,362 | $14.00 to $22.50 in 45 states | $20.40 to $54.06 in 36 states | $30.38 |
| Plumbers and pipefitters | 45,568 | $15.00 to $24.00 in 42 states | $17.00 to $54.55 in 30 states | $30.67 |
| Carpenters | 33,834 | $16.45 to $26.00 in 31 states | $25.00 to $52.15 in 17 states | $29.12 |
| Lineworkers (power-line installers) | 13,846 | $20.00 to $34.60 in 33 states | $33.84 to $57.96 in 20 states | $45.83 |
| Sheet metal workers | 11,480 | $15.35 to $24.72 in 25 states | $28.35 to $55.16 in 12 states | $29.71 |
| HVAC technicians | 10,373 | $14.85 to $31.00 in 23 states | $21.03 to $51.97 in 9 states | $29.33 |
| Truck drivers (CDL) | 9,739 | $8.50 to $18.00 in 32 states | $18.50 to $25.50 in 11 states | $28.19 |
| Ironworkers | 8,552 | $17.39 to $30.10 in 19 states | $33.00 to $49.19 in 7 states | $30.18 |
| Heavy equipment operators | 7,364 | $17.54 to $30.98 in 17 states | $27.98 to $55.30 in 7 states | $28.78 |
| Elevator installers | 5,230 | $23.80 to $32.56 in 8 states | $39.26 to $52.10 in 6 states | $52.84 |
| Auto service technicians | 4,074 | $9.50 to $19.00 in 18 states | no state median | $24.34 |
| Machinists | 2,427 | $13.00 to $21.26 in 4 states | $22.65 to $35.24 in 2 states | $28.24 |
| Welders | 2,071 | $13.00 to $22.07 in 7 states | no state median | $25.84 |
| Brickmasons and blockmasons | 2,030 | $17.75 to $24.35 in 7 states | no state median | $29.87 |
| Diesel mechanics | 942 | $20.00 in 1 state | $34.00 in 1 state | $29.70 |
Hourly wages. The wage columns give the lowest and the highest state median and how many states have one; the starters and the completers are different people. Apprentices are counted under the occupation titles DOL maps to each trade's occupation code, and the file's fiscal 2024 records largely stop after February 2024. The BLS figure is the wage survey's national median for the whole occupation, a different source and a different period. How each figure is built is on the data page; the rows are in one file (CSV).
Work out your own
The apprentice pay calculator turns a trade's starting and completing wage in your state into a week and a year at your hours. The time-to-journeyman calculator gives the on-the-job hours to the first license wherever a sourced state sets them. DOL lists open registered programs on its Apprenticeship Finder.