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Pay · 49-9021

Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics earn $61,010 a year at the midpoint

From about $40,050 at the low end to $95,210 at the top, with $61,010 in the middle — the 2025 survey, published as reported.

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$61,010median a year · United States
$29.33an hour $64,780average 409,670people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$48,36025th $61,010median $77,06075th
$40,05010th percentile $95,21090th percentile
$48,360a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$84,390best-paying state · District of Columbia
$48,110lowest-paying state · Arkansas
+38%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

State matters a lotThe same job pays $84,390 in District of Columbia and $48,110 in Arkansas — a gap of $36,280 a year.

HVAC mechanic earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%

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HVAC mechanic pay rate, from hourly to yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$61,006a year

Examples

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Nearby work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics$61,010
Signal and Track Switch Repairers$92,460+$31,450 Control and Valve Installers and Repairers, Except Mechanical Door$74,340+$13,330 Commercial Divers$72,990+$11,980 Precision Instrument and Equipment Repairers, All Other$68,990+$7,980 Watch and Clock Repairers$67,230+$6,220 Millwrights$65,700+$4,690

HVAC mechanic wages in each state

The 42 states where the most people do this work, of 51 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.61 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Illinois $77,410 $46,690 $46,690 — $117,550 9,740
Massachusetts $77,300 $50,820 $50,820 — $102,410 8,200
Connecticut $76,610 $45,280 $45,280 — $100,160 3,800
Minnesota $76,350 $48,220 $48,220 — $100,030 4,200
Washington $75,660 $48,810 $48,810 — $120,360 7,370
New Jersey $74,450 $48,020 $48,020 — $116,550 10,330
New York $74,430 $48,560 $48,560 — $100,680 24,430
New Hampshire $73,850 $47,520 $47,520 — $97,140 2,560
California $72,560 $46,950 $46,950 — $109,060 35,130
Maryland $70,020 $46,180 $46,180 — $106,740 8,560
Colorado $65,200 $48,220 $48,220 — $103,640 8,940
Maine $63,170 $47,090 $47,090 — $82,090 2,250
Oregon $62,940 $46,990 $46,990 — $94,520 3,980
Ohio $62,510 $38,630 $38,630 — $98,310 14,150
Pennsylvania $62,400 $45,970 $45,970 — $89,440 15,880
Delaware $62,320 $45,000 $45,000 — $97,600 1,730
Wisconsin $61,710 $45,930 $45,930 — $98,070 6,630
Michigan $60,850 $40,210 $40,210 — $95,290 12,590
Iowa $60,680 $43,040 $43,040 — $86,280 3,840
Nevada $60,510 $41,040 $41,040 — $89,750 4,170
Kansas $60,460 $43,660 $43,660 — $83,500 3,770
Indiana $60,430 $40,460 $40,460 — $97,800 8,530
Missouri $59,950 $39,180 $39,180 — $88,760 7,220
Nebraska $59,850 $43,540 $43,540 — $81,110 3,020
Virginia $59,730 $39,760 $39,760 — $83,420 14,690
Arizona $59,400 $37,950 $37,950 — $80,160 10,860
Utah $58,730 $37,570 $37,570 — $80,500 5,580
Louisiana $58,650 $36,950 $36,950 — $78,210 5,380
Kentucky $58,620 $38,790 $38,790 — $80,020 5,100
Texas $57,760 $38,100 $38,100 — $81,860 34,730
Oklahoma $57,560 $36,050 $36,050 — $79,660 5,650
North Carolina $57,260 $37,780 $37,780 — $77,160 15,230
Florida $56,670 $38,370 $38,370 — $78,210 39,160
South Carolina $56,610 $39,170 $39,170 — $75,530 6,920
Georgia $56,390 $36,990 $36,990 — $79,130 12,290
Idaho $56,240 $38,660 $38,660 — $80,780 4,550
Tennessee $55,490 $38,540 $38,540 — $81,590 9,740
New Mexico $50,270 $37,380 $37,380 — $75,770 1,950
West Virginia $48,850 $36,160 $36,160 — $72,640 1,690
Mississippi $48,680 $36,160 $36,160 — $76,240 2,700
Alabama $48,370 $36,510 $36,510 — $65,690 8,260
Arkansas $48,110 $37,040 $37,040 — $69,290 4,960

Number 389 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 51% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 387 Refractory Materials Repairers, Except Brickmasons $61,290
  2. 388 Meeting, Convention, and Event Planners $61,160
  3. 389 Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics $61,010
  4. 390 Maintenance Workers, Machinery $60,850
  5. 391 Clergy $60,810

Writing a resume for heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics

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  • Discussed heating or cooling system malfunctions with users to isolate problems or to verify that repairs corrected malfunctions.
  • Tested electrical circuits or components for continuity, using electrical test equipment.
  • Repaired or replaced defective equipment, components, or wiring.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

What people often ask

What is an HVAC mechanic’s yearly income?

An HVAC mechanic makes a median of $61,010 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $48,360 and $77,060.

What is an HVAC mechanic’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $29.33 an hour; the average is $64,780 a year.

What is the starting pay for an HVAC mechanic?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $48,360 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $40,050.

Which state pays heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics the most?

District of Columbia, with a median of $84,390 a year.

How many people work as heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics?

About 409,670 in the United States — number 389 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays roughly the same

Median pay within $410 of what heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics earn — $61,010 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations