Planning estimates, not a job offer, career, legal or tax advice. Trade Salaries is a one-desk data project about the skilled trades. We are not a union, employer, apprenticeship program, trade or truck-driving school, licensing board or recruiter, and we do not enroll students or place workers.
Wage figures are survey estimates
The pay numbers here come from the May 2025 OEWS survey run by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, pulled from the BLS data API and from O*NET OnLine’s state and metro tables. They measure straight-time wages of people on a payroll. They leave out the self-employed and contractors, overtime premiums, per diem, most benefits and pension contributions, and a single state or metro figure can carry a sampling error of several percent. Union scale, overtime, travel work and your own experience can put real pay well above or below these numbers.
Take-home pay is a rough cut
Take-home results apply the IRS 2026 federal income tax brackets and standard deduction, Social Security (6.2% up to the 2026 wage base) and Medicare to the gross pay shown, plus the state rate you type in. They ignore credits, itemized deductions, local taxes, union dues, insurance premiums and how your employer actually withholds. Check the figure against your own stub once you are on the job.
License, apprenticeship and CDL rules change
Experience hours, exam rules and fees for electricians and plumbers are set by each state or city; apprenticeship standards by each registered program; CDL training and testing rules by the FMCSA and your state. We link and date the rule behind each statement. Confirm with the licensing board, program or state driver licensing agency before you apply, enroll or pay.
School costs and payback
The payback and apprentice calculators do arithmetic on the numbers you enter. They do not know your admission chances, aid, the jobs open where you live or your future pay. Use each program's published cost and your own loan terms.
No paid relationships
We carry no affiliate links and are not paid by schools, unions, carriers, employers or lenders. Display ads may pay for the hosting; no advertiser chooses which trades, states or programs we cover.
Corrections
Spot a wrong rate, an outdated license rule or a program that changed its hours? Send it through the contact page with the source. We correct the page and note what changed.