Trade Salary Data & Research
Quick answer: This hub ranks skilled-trade wages by U.S. metropolitan area and state using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data (OEWS, May 2025). Every figure is published BLS data, free to cite.
We aggregate federal wage data into per-metro and per-state rankings for skilled trades. All figures are median annual wages from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025); we do not estimate or model values.
Citation hub
These pages are built to be copied. Each one links through to the matching career guide and school finder so a cite of the number still lands on the training silo.
- Skilled Trade Salary Statistics 2026: national medians, wage premiums vs all occupations, openings, and injury rates, formatted to copy.
- HVAC Technician Salary Statistics 2026: HVAC median, percentiles, state and metro leaders, openings, and injury rates.
- Electrician Salary Statistics 2026: electrician median, percentiles, state and metro leaders, openings, and injury rates.
Salary by Metro Area
- Electrician Salary by Metro Area
- Plumber Salary by Metro Area
- HVAC Technician Salary by Metro Area
- Welder Salary by Metro Area
- Carpenter Salary by Metro Area
- Truck Driver Salary by Metro Area
- Auto Mechanic Salary by Metro Area
- CNC Machinist Salary by Metro Area
About this data
Wages are median annual figures from BLS OEWS (May 2025). Metropolitan areas use OMB definitions. This data is in the public domain and may be cited with attribution to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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/.