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The data: downloads, sources and how the numbers are built
Every figure on this site comes from a named public source. The wage, employment, outlook and apprenticeship layers are rebuilt from the federal files by script, with nothing typed in by hand; the licensing layer is read from the pages each record names, most of them the issuing authority's own, and carries the passage it rests on.
Download the data
The wage, metro, outlook, apprenticeship and licensing layers are each here as a file, written from the same data by the same build that writes the pages.
| File | Rows | What a row is | Figures from |
|---|---|---|---|
| state-licensing-tiers.csv state-licensing-records.json | 334 | One row for each step on 120 trade-and-state paths in 30 states (electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians and commercial truck drivers): a license, registration, permit or federal step, or a row recording that the state issues none. Each row has the hours and the exam where the source states them, the published fee, the requirement in plain words, and the page and verbatim passage it was read from. A value the source does not publish is left empty. | SmartPathGuides, from the pages each record names; last read 2026-10-03 |
| trade-wages-by-state.csv | 764 | One row for each of 15 skilled trades in each state and the District of Columbia, and one for the nation, wherever BLS publishes the occupation: employment, its share of all jobs, and the hourly and annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles and the mean. | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS); last read 2026-10-03 |
| trade-wages-by-metro.csv | 4,729 | One row for each of 15 skilled trades in each metropolitan statistical area where BLS publishes an estimate, for the metros whose primary state is one of the areas this site covers: employment, the median hourly wage, and the annual wage at the 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles. A metro that crosses a state line is listed once, under the primary state BLS assigns it. | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS); last read 2026-10-03 |
| registered-apprenticeships-by-state.csv | 718 | One row for each trade and state where the U.S. Department of Labor's apprentice-level file lists an active registered apprentice in fiscal 2024 under the occupation titles it maps to the trade: active apprentices in fiscal 2024, those who started in fiscal 2023, and the median starting and completing hourly wage where 50 or more apprentices carry a wage DOL counts. | U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration: Apprenticeship Participant Characteristics and Training Outcomes; last read 2026-09-24 |
| trade-outlook.csv | 15 | One row for each of 15 skilled trades: national employment in 2025, projected employment in 2035, the change, the average openings a year over the decade, and the typical education needed for entry. The projection is national. | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program; last read 2026-10-03 |
Reading the files. The files are comma-separated text in UTF-8 with a header row. A wage at or above the survey's ceiling is written as >= and the ceiling; a cell the source did not publish is empty. The licensing file has one row for each step on a path (a license, registration, permit or federal step, or a row recording that the state issues none), and the JSON file holds the same records whole, with every passage and source.
Using them. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that everything that we publish, both in hard copy and electronically, is in the public domain, except for previously copyrighted photographs and illustrations
, and asks to be cited as the source (its copyright page). The Department of Labor says: Materials created by the federal government are generally part of the public domain and may be used, reproduced and distributed without permission.
It adds that they may not be used in a manner that implies any affiliation or endorsement by the DOL
(its copyright page). The federal figures stay in the public domain, and each passage quoted in the licensing records remains its source's text. What this site adds, the compilation and the licensing records' own wording, is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0: credit SmartPathGuides with a link to smartpathguides.com.
The columns in each file
state-licensing-tiers.csv
state_code, state, soc, trade: the path: a state and a tradeauthority: the authority named on the record; issued_by and place say who issues each rowworker_needs_state_license: yes, no, or not stated on the pages readstep: the row's place in the record, in the order the record lists themlicense: its name on this site, from the authority's own name for itstage: start (held before any experience), license, or none (a row recording that no state license exists)issued_by, place: state, local or federal, and the city or county behind a local licensefirst_license_with_hours: yes on the first main-path license that takes 2,000 or more on-the-job hoursalternative_route, later_step: yes where the license sits beside the main path, or beyond the first licenseexperience_hours, minimum_years, years_as_published: hours the row requires as its source states them; the minimum years where it states one; the years its source gives for those hours where it gives them as the same requirementexam: the exam, where one is namedfee_usd, fee_note, fee_until, fee_after_usd: the published fee; a note where it varies; the last day a dated fee applies and the fee after itrequirements: what the license takes, in this site's wordssource_url, source_passage: the page read and the verbatim passage the row rests onlast_read: the latest day one of the record's pages was read
trade-wages-by-state.csv
soc: Standard Occupational Classification codeoccupation: the occupation's BLS titletrade: the trade's page name on this sitearea_code: state postal code, or US for the nationarea: area namearea_kind: state, district or nationemployment: wage-and-salary workers in the occupationjobs_per_1000: employment for every 1,000 jobs in the arealocation_quotient: the area's concentration of the occupation over the national concentrationhourly_p10, hourly_p25, hourly_median, hourly_p75, hourly_p90, hourly_mean: hourly wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles, and the meanannual_p10, annual_p25, annual_median, annual_p75, annual_p90, annual_mean: annual wage at the same points
trade-wages-by-metro.csv
soc: Standard Occupational Classification codeoccupation: the occupation's BLS titletrade: the trade's page name on this sitemetro_code: the BLS area code of the metropolitan statistical areametro: the area's name as BLS prints itprimary_state: the state BLS lists the metro underemployment: wage-and-salary workers in the occupationhourly_median: median hourly wageannual_p10, annual_median, annual_p90: annual wage at the 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles
registered-apprenticeships-by-state.csv
soc: Standard Occupational Classification codeoccupation: the occupation's BLS titletrade: the trade's page name on this sitestate_code, state: where the apprentice is located, as DOL assigns itactive_fy2024: distinct active apprentices in fiscal year 2024started_fy2023: apprentices who started in fiscal year 2023start_wage_count, start_wage_median: starters with a starting wage DOL counts, and their median hourly wage (empty below 50)completion_wage_count, completion_wage_median: completers of fiscal 2023 with an exit wage DOL counts, and their median hourly wage (empty below 50)
trade-outlook.csv
soc: Standard Occupational Classification codeoccupation: the occupation's title in the projections tabletrade: the trade's page name on this siteemployment_2025, employment_2035: jobs in the base year and the projected yearchange, change_percent: the projected change in jobs and as a percentageopenings_per_year: average annual openings: growth plus the workers who leave the occupationentry_education: typical education needed for entry, as BLS classifies it
Wages and employment
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, cross-industry, all ownerships; state estimates plus the national estimate. Files: oesm25st.zip and oesm25nat.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-03.
OEWS is a semiannual survey of about 1.1 million establishments, combined over three years into each annual estimate. It covers wage-and-salary workers only; the self-employed are not in these numbers.
What the columns mean
- Median: half the workers in the occupation earn less, half earn more. The figure to use as "typical pay".
- Percentiles: the 10th and 90th bracket the working range; the 25th and 75th bracket the middle half.
- Mean: the arithmetic average. Top earners pull it above the median, so it overstates typical pay.
- Annual: BLS multiplies the hourly rate by 2,080 hours. For occupations paid by the year, the annual figure is reported directly.
- Employed: the estimated number of wage-and-salary workers in the occupation in that area.
- Per 1,000 jobs: employment in the occupation for every 1,000 jobs in the area.
- Location quotient: the area's concentration of the occupation divided by the national concentration. 1.00 is average; 2.00 is twice as concentrated.
Suppressed and capped cells
A cell BLS did not publish (its estimate did not meet publication standards) shows as "not published". A wage at or above the survey's ceiling, $115.00 an hour or $239,200 a year, shows as "or more". Neither is filled in from another source.
Coverage
15 occupations (Electricians (47-2111); Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters (47-2152); Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers (49-9021); Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers (51-4121); Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers (53-3032); Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers (49-9051); Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers (47-4021); Structural Iron and Steel Workers (47-2221); Sheet Metal Workers (47-2211); Carpenters (47-2031); Brickmasons and Blockmasons (47-2021); Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics (49-3023); Bus and Truck Mechanics and Diesel Engine Specialists (49-3031); Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators (47-2073); Machinists (51-4041)) across 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Metro areas
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates for metropolitan statistical areas, from oesm25ma.zip, retrieved 2026-10-03. Each trade-and-state page lists the metro areas BLS publishes for that trade, largest employment first, with the median and the 10th and 90th percentiles. BLS assigns every metro a primary state; a metro that crosses a state line (Kansas City, Philadelphia, New York) is listed only under that primary state. Nonmetropolitan areas are in the same file and are not shown. Suppressed and capped cells follow the same rules as the state figures.
Job outlook
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program, Table 1.2 of the occupation workbook, retrieved 2026-10-03. It gives each occupation's employment in 2025 and projected 2035, the change, the average annual openings over the decade (growth plus workers who leave the occupation), and the typical education needed for entry. Employment in the table is in thousands; the pages show whole jobs. The projection is national; BLS does not project by state in this table.
The steps into each trade
The step-by-step path on each trade page follows the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook entry for that occupation, read on the date shown on the page. Each step carries the Handbook's own wording under "BLS wording" so it can be checked against the source: Electricians; Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters; Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers; Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers; Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers; Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers; Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers; Ironworkers; Sheet Metal Workers; Carpenters; Masonry Workers; Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics; Diesel Service Technicians and Mechanics; Construction Equipment Operators; Machinists and Tool and Die Makers.
State licensing
120 trade-and-state pairs across 4 trades and 30 states, vintage 2026-09. Each record is read from the pages it names, most of them the licensing authority's own: every tier carries the source URL and the verbatim passage it rests on, and a value the state does not publish (a fee behind a login, a requirement stated in years rather than hours) is left empty rather than estimated. Where an authority publishes one fee up to a set day and another after it (Florida's certified contractor fees), the fee is shown with the last day it applies and the amount after it, and the site's build fails once that day has passed until the record is updated; a fee that varies with the application date in some other way is shown as the range the authority publishes. The starting cost is what a worker pays to start working: the published state fees for the registrations, trainee or apprentice credentials, learner's permit and federal steps held before any experience. Where a state licenses no one at the worker level (only contractors, or only cities and counties) it reads "none required", or "no state fee" where the only start step is federal (EPA 608), and the contractor licenses are listed as a later step. Either answer rests on the state's own statement or on an official list, of its licensing boards or of the persons it exempts, that leaves the trade out (Missouri's plumbing and HVAC rest on its list of boards). "None listed" means the state licenses workers but lists no credential before the first license; "not stated" that the pages read do not say whether a worker needs one; and "federal step only; state rule not stated" that the only start step is federal and the pages read do not settle the state's rule. The license-cost calculator also totals what it takes to hold the first license. Where a state licenses only at the local level, a city or county is shown as the example (New York City, Philadelphia and Allegheny County, Chicago, Columbus, Indianapolis, Kansas City); its fees are that place's, and every total that includes one names the place. Some code and statute text is quoted from a law publisher's copy rather than the state's own site: Illinois, New Jersey and Massachusetts from the Legal Information Institute's copy at Cornell Law School and Indiana and Alabama from Justia's copy; each is an unofficial reproduction of the state's text. (The New Jersey boards link their rules to a LexisNexis-hosted copy, the Illinois Department of Public Health links the Illinois General Assembly's copy of the same rules, and the Massachusetts plumbing and refrigeration boards post theirs as PDF files.) A state page shows a licensing section only when its record exists. Welders are certified by industry bodies rather than licensed by most states. These trades have no licensing layer here: welders, lineworkers (power-line installers), elevator installers, ironworkers, sheet metal workers, carpenters, brickmasons and blockmasons, auto service technicians, diesel mechanics, heavy equipment operators, machinists; their pages carry the Handbook steps, pay and outlook.
Registered apprenticeships
The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration publishes Apprenticeship Participant Characteristics and Training Outcomes on its data portal: apprentice-level records of the new, active and exiting registered apprentices of each fiscal year, as one 3.2 GB file (ETA_apprenticeship_data.zip, last modified 2026-01-31, retrieved 2026-09-24). Its newest fiscal year is 2024 (October 2023 to September 2024), and that year's records largely stop after February 2024, the last month holding at least 1% of the year's starts or of its exits; 198 starts and 2 exits are dated later, and they are counted like the rest.
Each trade-and-state page counts the distinct apprentices in the file's active-apprentice table for fiscal year 2024. The wages come from fiscal 2023, the latest year whose starts and exits the file holds in full, because an active apprentice's starting wage dates from whenever that apprentice started. The starting wage is DOL's START_WAGE_ADJUST for the apprentices who started that year, and the completing wage is DOL's EXIT_WAGE_ADJUST for those who completed it. Both are hourly: DOL converts other pay periods, dividing an annual wage by 2,000 hours. DOL fills them only where the wage lies between $7.25 and $150 an hour and the record's industry code (NAICS) is not 922140, and sets them to zero otherwise; zeros are left out. The build checks every nonzero adjusted wage in the file (5,624,927 starting and 535,985 exit wages) against those bounds and the excluded industry code, and stops if one breaks them. A median is shown only where 50 or more apprentices in that trade and state carry the wage, which holds for 312 starting and 158 completing medians across the 704 trade-and-state pages with a count. No wage from another source is mixed in, and the wages are in each year's dollars.
The state is DOL's APPR_STATE: where the apprentice is located, from the apprentice's zip code, except that apprentices registered with a State Apprenticeship Agency are placed in the program's state. Records whose state DOL sets to "USMAP" are left out.
The file names each apprentice's occupation by title. A title counts toward a trade only where DOL's list of approved apprenticeable occupations (approved-occupations.xlsx, modified 2026-09-23) carries that exact title in its RAPIDS TITLE column, ignoring case and spacing, beside the trade's SOC code. A title the list does not carry, or maps to two codes, is not counted, so an apprentice registered under it is in no count here. The titles counted:
- Electricians (47-2111): ELECTRICIAN; ELECTRICIAN (Alternate Title: Interior Electrician); ELECTRICIAN (Ship & Boat); ELECTRICIAN (Water Trans); ELECTRICIAN, MAINTENANCE; Lightning Protection Technician (Conventional System); PROTECTIVE-SIGNAL REPAIRER; RESIDENTIAL WIREMAN; STREET-LIGHT SERVICER
- Plumbers and pipefitters (47-2152): GAS-MAIN FITTER; PIPE FITTER (Construction); PIPE FITTER (Ship & Boat); PLUMBER; SPRINKLER FITTER (Existing Title: Pipe Fitter); STEAM SERVICE INSPECTOR; Water Distribution Operator
- HVAC technicians (49-9021): Air & Hydronic Balancing Technician; FURNACE INSTALLER; HEATING & AIR-CONDITIONER INSTALL/SER; REFRIGERATION MECHANIC (Any Ind); REFRIGERATION UNIT REPAIRER; REFRIGRATION & AIR CONDITION MECHANIC (Existing Title: Refrigeration Maint)
- Welders (51-4121): Welder, Arc; Welder, Combination; Welder-Fitter; Welding (Existing Title: Welder, Combination)
- Truck drivers (CDL) (53-3032): CONSTRUCTION DRIVER; DRIVER SERVICE PROVIDER (Existing Title: Truck Driver, Heavy); Heavy and Tractor Trailer Truck Driver; TRUCK DRIVER, HEAVY (Alternate Title: Motor Transport Operator); Truck Driver, Heavy
- Lineworkers (power-line installers) (49-9051): CABLE INSTALLER-REPARIER (Alternate Title: Cable Systems Installer/Maintainer); CABLE SPLICER; LINE ERECTOR (POWER-LINE DISTRIBUTION ERECTOR); LINE MAINTAINER (Alternate Title: High Voltage Electrician); LINE REPAIRER; TROUBLE SHOOTER II
- Elevator installers (47-4021): ELEVATOR CONSTRUCTOR (Alternate Title: Elevator Constructor Mechanic); ELEVATOR REPAIRER
- Ironworkers (47-2221): Assembler, Metal Building; STRUCTURAL STEEL WORKER (Alternate Titles: Ironworker or Structural Ironworker)
- Sheet metal workers (47-2211): SHEET METAL WORKER
- Carpenters (47-2031): Bridge Carpenter-Heavy Highway (Existing Title: Carpenter, Rough); CARPENTER; CARPENTER ROOFER SPECIALIST (Existing Title: Roofer); CARPENTER, INTERIOR SYSTEMS (Alternate Title: Interior Systems Carpenter); CARPENTER, MAINTENANCE; CARPENTER, MOLD; CARPENTER, PILEDRIVER; CARPENTER, ROUGH; CARPENTER, SHIP; FORM BUILDER (Const); Joiner (Ship & Boat Bldg); LATHER (Alternate Title: Lathing Specialist); LATHING SPECIALIST (Existing Title: Lather); RESIDENTIAL CARPENTER; SHIPWRIGHT (Ship & Boat)
- Brickmasons and blockmasons (47-2021): BRICKLAYER (Brick & Tile); Bricklayer (Construction); Bricklayer (Existing Title: Bricklayer (Construction)); Bricklayer, Firebrick & Refractory; Bricklayers & Mason (Ext. Title: Bricklayer (Brick & Tile) or (Masonry)); CHIMNEY REPAIRER
- Auto service technicians (49-3023): Air Conditioning Mechanic (Auto Serv); Autombile Mechanic (Alternate Title: Light-Wheel Vehicle Mechanic); Automotive Mechanic (Existing Title: Automobile Mechanic); Automotive Technician Specialist; Brake Repairer (Auto Serv); REPAIRER, HEAVY; TRANSMISSION MECHANIC; TUNE-UP MECHANIC; Undercar Specialist (Alternate Title: Automotive Tech Specialist )
- Diesel mechanics (49-3031): DIESEL MECHANIC (Alternate Title: Power-Generation Equipment Repairer); Diesel Mechanic; MAINT MECHANIC (Const; Petrol) (Alternate Title: Heavy-Wheel Vehicle Mechanic ); MECHANIC, INDUSTRIAL TRUCK (Alternate Titles: Diesel Mech/Power-Gen Equip Rep); OIL FIELD EQUIP MECHANIC(Op I Frac-Acd; Oil Field Equip Mechanic; TRACTOR MECHANIC
- Heavy equipment operators (47-2073): ELEVATING-GRADER OPERATOR; MOTOR-GRADER OPERATOR; OPERATING ENGINEER (Alternate Title: Heavy Construction Equipment Mechanic); Operating Engineer
- Machinists (51-4041): FIXTURE MAKER (Light Fix); INSTRUMENT MAKER; INSTRUMENT MAKER & REPAIRER; MACHINIST; MACHINIST (Alternate Title: Precision Machinist); MACHINIST, AUTOMOTIVE; MACHINIST, EXPERIMENTAL; MACHINIST, OUTSIDE (Ship); MAINTENANCE MACHINIST
Refresh
BLS publishes new OEWS estimates each spring and new Employment Projections each late summer. The build scripts download the new files, rewrite the data sets, and every page is regenerated; the vintage in the footer changes when that happens. Licensing records are re-read against the authority once a year and whenever a reader reports a change. The apprenticeship layer is rebuilt by hand each quarter from DOL's file, a 3.2 GB download, rather than by the monthly data refresh.