Our Data Sources

At TradeCareerPath.com, every wage, job-growth, school, and licensing number you see comes from primary U.S. government data. We do not estimate, round, or invent figures. The table below lists each dataset we rely on, the agency that publishes it, and the exact release or vintage we are currently using.

DataProviderVintage
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMay 2025
Employment ProjectionsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics2024-2034
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data SystemNational Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)2024
College Scorecard (school-level outcomes)U.S. Department of Educationlatest release
College Scorecard (field-of-study earnings)U.S. Department of Educationlatest release (updated 2026-06-12)
Occupational licensing requirementsCareerOneStop (U.S. Department of Labor)latest release (updated 2026-02-22)
Registered apprenticeship programsCareerOneStop / Apprenticeship.gov (U.S. Department of Labor)latest release (updated 2025-10-25)
CPI inflation & JOLTS labor turnoverU.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticslatest release (updated 2026-06-14)
Fair Market Rents (rent by county/metro)U.S. Department of Housing & Urban DevelopmentFY2025 (updated 2026-06-14)
O*NET occupation profiles (skills, tasks, tools, job zones)U.S. Department of Labor (O*NET / Employment & Training Admin.)O*NET 29.1 (updated 2026-06-13)

How to Read These

  • BLS OEWS – wage figures (median pay, percentiles, and pay by state and metro area) on our trade and career pages.
  • BLS Employment Projections – the job-growth and job-outlook numbers (projected change over the 2024-2034 decade).
  • IPEDS – the directory of schools: institution names, locations, programs offered by CIP code, and distance-education availability.
  • College Scorecard – school-level outcomes used in our rankings and earnings figures (graduation rate, retention, median earnings, and net price).
  • CareerOneStop – state licensing requirements and registered apprenticeship contacts on our state and trade guides.

Our rankings combine IPEDS and College Scorecard data into the BOC Score. Money cannot move a school up our rankings. See our ranking methodology for the full scoring formula.


About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.