Levels, spread, and growth. OEWS May 2025, with a 2019 to 2025 history.
Median pay
$63k
27.0% since 2019, before inflation
20192025
Pay spread
$42–91k
10th to 90th percentile
10th percentile
$42k
Median
$63k
90th percentile
$91k
Pay premium over workers with a high school diploma outside the trades
36%
Against the national median for those workers ($46.3k, ACS 2020–2024)
Employment growth per year
3.1%
Compound annual rate, 2019 to 2025
Skills employers ask for
From the Burning Glass Institute Job Postings Database, for this occupation nationally, 2023 to 2025. What is growing, what pays, and what is just arriving. These are national lists - there is insufficient data to breakdown by state.
Fastest growing
ServiceMax+159%/yr
Energy Efficient Operations+103%/yr
Ohm Meters+78%/yr
Property Maintenance+48%/yr
Technical Issues+42%/yr
Carry a pay premium
Honeywell Controls Systems+28% pay
Siemens Control Systems+28% pay
Johnson Controls Systems+22% pay
ServiceMax+21% pay
Drainage Systems+20% pay
Frontier: both fast-growing and carry a pay premium
ServiceMax0.5% of ads
Honeywell Controls Systems0.7% of ads
Energy Efficient Operations0.6% of ads
Siemens Control Systems0.8% of ads
Johnson Controls Systems0.8% of ads
Burning Glass Institute Job Postings Database, one of 54 trades with enough advert volume to score. Premiums are wage differences between adverts for the same occupation with and without the skill.
Entry & Training
How people typically enter this work, what exists here to train them, and how often training completes. Conversion into the trade is measured nationally, by trade group.
Typical way in
College or CTE credential
Typical entry education: Postsecondary nondegree award
Working in trade at 5 years
23%
Installation, maintenance & repair as a group, national - all trades 28.9%
Growth
Where this work is heading: projected change.
Projected employment change
10.9%
2025 to 2035, BLS Employment Projections
National shortage pressure
#139
Of 525 occupations scored on the national index, trades and non-trades alike · 74th percentile
Shortage Pressure
Each state is shaded by the Burning Glass Institute's Labor Shortage Index, which scores the structural pressure on filling the occupation from nine indicators, including workforce age, new entrants, part-time work, licensing, AI exposure and projected growth. Each occupation is ranked against every other occupation in the same state, so a reading of 90 means more pressure than 90% of occupations in that state. It is a risk score, not a count of unfilled jobs. The worker data come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, and occupations with fewer than 20 survey respondents in a state are not scored.
AK
AL
AR
AZ
CA
CO
CT
DC
DE
FL
GA
HI
IA
ID
IL
IN
KS
KY
LA
MA
MD
ME
MI
MN
MO
MS
MT
NC
ND
NE
NH
NJ
NM
NV
NY
OH
OK
OR
PA
RI
SC
SD
TN
TX
UT
VA
VT
WA
WI
WV
WY
highest shortage pressure · click a state to inspect it without leaving the page table view
State
Shortage pressure
Workers
Nebraska
85
3,020
Wisconsin
82
6,630
Tennessee
81
9,740
Ohio
79
14,150
California
78
35,130
Colorado
78
8,940
Georgia
78
12,290
Maine
78
2,250
North Dakota
78
970
Arizona
77
10,860
Florida
76
39,160
Wyoming
76
690
Louisiana
75
5,380
Minnesota
75
4,200
West Virginia
75
1,690
Massachusetts
73
8,200
Montana
73
1,230
Indiana
72
8,530
New Jersey
71
10,330
Iowa
70
3,840
Oklahoma
70
5,650
Maryland
69
8,560
Virginia
69
14,690
Alabama
68
8,260
Arkansas
68
4,960
Illinois
68
9,740
Missouri
68
7,220
North Carolina
68
15,230
Pennsylvania
68
15,880
Oregon
67
3,980
Texas
67
34,730
Kansas
66
3,770
Kentucky
65
5,100
Utah
65
5,580
Delaware
64
1,730
New Hampshire
63
2,560
Alaska
62
610
Vermont
62
970
South Carolina
59
6,920
New York
57
24,430
Mississippi
55
2,700
Nevada
55
4,170
Idaho
53
4,550
Michigan
53
12,590
Rhode Island
46
1,450
Connecticut
43
3,800
New Mexico
42
1,950
South Dakota
38
1,610
Washington
36
7,370
Hawaii
30
1,300
Selected
Nebraska
Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers
85percentile, shortage pressure
3,020 workers
States by shortage pressure for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers
Labor Shortage Index percentile in each state
1Nebraska85
2Wisconsin82
3Tennessee81
4Ohio79
5California78
6Colorado78
7Georgia78
8Maine78
9North Dakota78
10Arizona77
11Florida76
12Wyoming76
The score is the trade's Labor Shortage Index percentile among all occupations scored in that state: 90 means more structural pressure on filling it than 90% of them, not more vacancies. 50 of 51 states score this trade.
Trades in the United States by shortage pressure
Labor Shortage Index percentile among all occupations nationally
1Industrial and refractory machinery mechanics99
2Stationary engineers and boiler operators96
3Precision instrument and equipment repairers95
4First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers93
5Locomotive engineers and operators93
6Construction and building inspectors91
7Tool and die makers91
8Transportation inspectors91
9Elevator and escalator installers and repairers89
10First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers89
11Maintenance and repair workers, general89
12Crane and tower operators88
The score is the trade's Labor Shortage Index percentile among all occupations scored nationally: 90 means more structural pressure on filling it than 90% of them, not more vacancies. 112 of 124 trades scored nationally.