Salaries & Job Outlook

Electricians in the United States earn a median salary of $62,350 per year as of May 2024, roughly 26% above the median wage across all US occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the median is just the starting point. Your actual pay as an electrician depends on your license level, specialization, employer type, state, and whether you work union or non-union. 

An apprentice in Alabama and a master electrician running commercial projects in Illinois are both “electricians”, and their incomes may differ by $60,000 or more. This guide breaks down every variable so you know exactly what to expect at each stage of your career, and what the highest-leverage moves are to increase your earnings.

Electrician Salary in the US: Quick Facts

Median annual salary	$62,350 per year, BLS May 2024
Median hourly rate	$29.98 per hour, BLS May 2024
Bottom 10% (entry-level)	Less than $39,430 per year
Top 10% (experienced/master)	More than $106,030 per year
Total US electrician jobs (2024)	818,700
Projected job growth (2024–2034)	9%, much faster than average

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The answer ranges from $38,000 to well over $300,000, and both numbers are real. What separates the bottom from the top is state, industry, experience, certification, and willingness to specialize in the trades with the highest-demand roles.

Welder Salary Calculator by state

Use the welder salary calculator to estimate the earnings in your state.

The median annual wage for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers was $51,000 in May 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the lowest 10% earning less than $38,130 and the highest 10% earning more than $75,850. 

The mean (average) annual salary is $53,200, higher than the median of $51,000, which tells you something important: high-earning welders in specialized fields pull the average up. 

That gap between median and mean is the story of welding pay in one sentence. The median reflects what most welders earn. The mean reflects what welders who specialize, are certified, and choose their location deliberately can reach.

This guide breaks down the full picture, national benchmarks, state-by-state data, industry pay tiers, experience progression, specialization premiums, and the practical factors that determine where you land in the range.

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Where you live is one of the biggest factors in how much you earn as an HVAC technician. A technician in Alaska can make nearly twice what one earns in Mississippi, doing the same work with the same certifications.

Use the calculator below to see exactly what HVAC technicians earn in your state, adjusted for experience, certification, and union status, using real BLS wage data.

But that national number only tells part of the story. State-level salaries range from just above $45,000 at the low end to over $90,000 at the top. A gap that can mean tens of thousands of dollars in annual income, depending on where you choose to build your career.

This guide breaks down HVAC technician salaries by state, experience level, specialization, and work sector using the most current BLS data available, so you know exactly what to expect and where the best opportunities are.

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Have you ever wondered what makes a job be termed as high-paying? Are there any high-paying jobs that don’t require a 4-year degree? In this article, we answer these questions specifically for career and technical-related jobs.

First, let us define what we mean by a high-paying job in CTE. If you wish to explore more about what CTE is, we have a comprehensive article on the outlook of Career in Technical Education in the US.

What makes a CTE job “high-paying”?

To be clear from the start, please note that not all Career and Technical Education (CTE) careers and jobs offer the same compensation. While many technical roles offer solid middle-class wages, only a subset consistently reach top-tier salary levels nationwide.

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