HVAC technician salary: $29.33 an hour, and what it means for your bill

Pay from entry level to the top

Half of the 409,670 HVAC mechanics and installers BLS counts earn more than $29.33 an hour; half earn less. The best-paid tenth earn at least 2.4 times what the lowest-paid tenth do ($45.78 against $19.25 an hour). The average, $31.14, sits above the median: a smaller group of high earners pulls it up.

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, wage and salary jobs (the self-employed are not surveyed). Annual pay is hourly × 2,080 hours.

By state

The District of Columbia leads at $40.57 an hour, then Alaska ($37.23) and Illinois ($37.21). Arkansas is lowest at $23.13, 21% under the national median. Nominal pay is only half the story: at local prices, North Dakota comes out ahead, its $74,490 median buying what $83,734 would nationally. Pick a state for its metros, taxes and licensing rules.

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025.

Highest-paying metros

Anchorage, AK tops the list at $41.16 an hour, 40% above the US median. Five of the ten best-paying metros are in California. Only metros where BLS counts at least 100 HVAC techs are ranked, out of 385 with an estimate.

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025.

What your repair bill pays for

The median HVAC tech earns $29.33 an hour. Published HVAC labor rates run $75–$150 an hour (HomeGuide, 2026); our price model uses $113 as the national rate, 3.85 times the median wage.

Of each $113 billed, about $29 is the technician's wage. The other $84 pays for payroll taxes and benefits, insurance, the truck and tools, drive and training time nobody is billed for, and the shop's margin.

Take a typical AC repair at $400: about $245 of it is labor, the equivalent of 2.2 billed hours, and the technician's own pay for that time comes to roughly $64.

• AC repair cost: typical $400, of which $245 is labor
• Furnace repair cost: typical $360, of which $253 is labor
• Heat pump repair cost: typical $420, of which $245 is labor
• HVAC tune-up cost: typical $160, of which $160 is labor

Every other local price, wage and climate figure: All HVAC prices.

Source: wages, BLS OEWS May 2025; billable rate, HomeGuide HVAC repair costs (2026) scaled by local HVAC wages; repair prices, HVACFIND Price Index 2026Q4.2 (model estimates for a 1,500–2,500 sq ft home).

Job outlook

BLS projects HVAC employment to grow 10.9% from 2025 to 2035, from 440,900 to 489,100 jobs, against about 3.1% for all occupations combined. With retirements and people changing careers, that works out to about 40,600 openings a year.

The projections count self-employed techs, so their base is larger than the 409,670 wage-and-salary jobs in the pay tables.

Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–2035; all-occupation growth is the sum over BLS's detailed occupations.

Training and licensing

BLS lists a postsecondary nondegree award, usually a certificate from a trade school or community college program, as the typical way in, followed by long-term on-the-job training, which BLS defines as more than 12 months. No prior work experience is required.

Anyone who handles refrigerant needs EPA Section 608 certification, in every state. Contractor licensing is up to the states: by our count 34 license HVAC contractors statewide, 13 leave it to cities and counties, and 4 have no HVAC-specific contractor license (checked 2026-09-30). Each state page names the board.

Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025–2035 (education and training); EPA; HVACFIND licensing list.

What the work involves

O*NET lists 30 tasks for the job and rates these six as the most important:

• Discuss heating or cooling system malfunctions with users to isolate problems or to verify that repairs corrected malfunctions.
• Test electrical circuits or components for continuity, using electrical test equipment.
• Repair or replace defective equipment, components, or wiring.
• Lay out and connect electrical wiring between controls and equipment, according to wiring diagrams, using electrician's hand tools.
• Schedule work with customers and initiate work orders, house requisitions, and orders from stock.
• Estimate, order, pick up, deliver, and install materials and supplies needed to maintain equipment in good working condition.

The skills rated most important are operations monitoring, troubleshooting, critical thinking, repairing and equipment maintenance; the knowledge areas, building and construction, customer and personal service and mechanical. On bigger commercial jobs the software includes building automation systems such as Alerton Ascent Compass, Delta Controls inteliWEB and Honeywell WEBs-N4.

Source: O*NET 31.0.

Next to other trades

Next to HVAC techs in the US, electricians earn $1.05 more an hour and plumbers earn $1.34 more an hour. HVAC out-earns two of the five related trades listed. The median worker in the US, across every occupation, earns $24.51 an hour, so HVAC pays 20% more than the national norm.

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025.

After state income tax

Nine states don't tax wages: Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. After state income tax, the median keeps the most in the District of Columbia ($80,058), then Alaska and Washington.

Source: state income tax at 2026 rates for a single filer with the standard deduction. Federal income tax and FICA (the same in every state) and city taxes are left out.

Questions

Sources

• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: HVAC mechanics and installers (49-9021)
• BLS Employment Projections, 2025–2035
• O*NET 31.0: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
• BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024
• EPA Section 608 technician certification
• HomeGuide: HVAC repair cost and hourly rates (2026)