What is the average HVAC technician salary?

The national median wage for HVAC and refrigeration technicians is $61,010 a year, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 wage data. Half of HVAC technicians earn more than that and half earn less. State medians range from $48,110 to $84,390.

Which state pays HVAC technicians the most?

District of Columbia ($84,390), Alaska ($77,430), Illinois ($77,410) lead the country on median annual pay for HVAC and refrigeration technicians. Cost of living explains much of the spread — a higher median does not automatically mean more take-home value.

Which states pay HVAC technicians the least?

Arkansas ($48,110), Alabama ($48,370), Mississippi ($48,680) sit at the bottom of the range. Lower-cost states cluster there, so the gap in real purchasing power is narrower than the raw numbers suggest.

Should I set pay using the national median or my state's?

Neither, on its own. Use your state median as a floor and benchmark against the metro you actually hire in — within-state variation between a major metro and a rural county is often larger than the gap between two states.

Where are the most HVAC technicians employed?

Florida (39,160), California (35,130), and Texas (34,730) employ the most HVAC and refrigeration technicians of any state, out of about 409,670 nationally. Florida and Texas both pay below the national median — two of the three deepest talent pools in the country are in below-median-wage states.

How do I set HVAC technician pay if my state median is below the national median?

Benchmark against the metro you actually hire in, not the state. Within-state variation between a major metro and a rural county is often larger than the gap between two states, so a state median can read as competitive while your local market has moved past it. Use the state figure as a floor and your metro as the real target.

Why does my job post get no applicants even though I pay the state median?

Usually because the median is a lagging, statewide figure and your competition is posting against the local metro rate. It can also be response time rather than pay — a qualified technician who applies and waits three days for a callback has typically already taken another offer. Check both before assuming you have a wage problem.

HVAC technician salary by state: what techs earn in all 50 states (2026)

What does an HVAC technician make?

The national median is $61,010 a year for HVAC and refrigeration technicians, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 wage data. State medians run from $48,110 to $84,390 — a spread of roughly $36,280. 24 of 51 jurisdictions pay above the national median.

If you're hiring, that spread is the number that matters. Posting at your state median in a metro that pays well above it is the quiet reason a job sits open for weeks.

HVAC technician salary by state

Median annual wage, all 51 jurisdictions, ranked. The gap column compares against the $61,010 national median; the last column is total HVAC technicians employed in that state, which tells you how deep the local pool actually is.

#	State	Median annual wage	vs. national	HVAC technicians employed
1	District of Columbia	$84,390	+$23,380	400
2	Alaska	$77,430	+$16,420	610
3	Illinois	$77,410	+$16,400	9,740
4	Massachusetts	$77,300	+$16,290	8,200
5	Connecticut	$76,610	+$15,600	3,800
6	Minnesota	$76,350	+$15,340	4,200
7	Washington	$75,660	+$14,650	7,370
8	North Dakota	$74,490	+$13,480	970
9	New Jersey	$74,450	+$13,440	10,330
10	New York	$74,430	+$13,420	24,430
11	New Hampshire	$73,850	+$12,840	2,560
12	California	$72,560	+$11,550	35,130
13	Maryland	$70,020	+$9,010	8,560
14	Rhode Island	$67,370	+$6,360	1,450
15	Hawaii	$65,450	+$4,440	1,300
16	Colorado	$65,200	+$4,190	8,940
17	Maine	$63,170	+$2,160	2,250
18	Oregon	$62,940	+$1,930	3,980
19	Ohio	$62,510	+$1,500	14,150
20	Pennsylvania	$62,400	+$1,390	15,880
21	Delaware	$62,320	+$1,310	1,730
22	Vermont	$62,150	+$1,140	970
23	Wisconsin	$61,710	+$700	6,630
24	South Dakota	$61,390	+$380	1,610
25	Michigan	$60,850	−$160	12,590
26	Montana	$60,850	−$160	1,230
27	Iowa	$60,680	−$330	3,840
28	Nevada	$60,510	−$500	4,170
29	Kansas	$60,460	−$550	3,770
30	Indiana	$60,430	−$580	8,530
31	Missouri	$59,950	−$1,060	7,220
32	Nebraska	$59,850	−$1,160	3,020
33	Virginia	$59,730	−$1,280	14,690
34	Arizona	$59,400	−$1,610	10,860
35	Utah	$58,730	−$2,280	5,580
36	Louisiana	$58,650	−$2,360	5,380
37	Kentucky	$58,620	−$2,390	5,100
38	Texas	$57,760	−$3,250	34,730
39	Oklahoma	$57,560	−$3,450	5,650
40	North Carolina	$57,260	−$3,750	15,230
41	Florida	$56,670	−$4,340	39,160
42	South Carolina	$56,610	−$4,400	6,920
43	Georgia	$56,390	−$4,620	12,290
44	Idaho	$56,240	−$4,770	4,550
45	Tennessee	$55,490	−$5,520	9,740
46	Wyoming	$54,700	−$6,310	690
47	New Mexico	$50,270	−$10,740	1,950
48	West Virginia	$48,850	−$12,160	1,690
49	Mississippi	$48,680	−$12,330	2,700
50	Alabama	$48,370	−$12,640	8,260
51	Arkansas	$48,110	−$12,900	4,960

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 49-9021 (Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers). Employment figures are state totals; about 409,670 HVAC technicians are employed nationally.

The deepest talent pools mostly pay below the median

The top of that ranking is misleading, and it's worth saying why. The District of Columbia posts the highest median in the country at $84,390 — across 400 HVAC technicians. Alaska ($77,430) has 610, North Dakota ($74,490) has 970. A high median in a pool that small is a statistical artifact, not a hiring market.

The pools that actually matter look different. Florida (39,160), California (35,130), Texas (34,730), and New York (24,430) employ roughly a third of all HVAC technicians in the country between them — and Florida and Texas, 73,890 techs combined, both pay below the $61,010 national median. North Carolina (15,230) and Virginia (14,690) follow the same pattern.

For an owner, the practical read: if you're hiring in Florida, Texas, North Carolina, or Virginia, you're working a deep pool at below-median wages, and your competition for those techs is local rather than national. Pay is not your differentiator there, and trying to win on it is expensive. Speed and process are.

What the spread actually tells you

Three things worth reading out of that table.

Cost of living explains a lot of it, but not all of it. The high-paying states cluster around expensive metros and strong union density. But the ranking isn't purely a cost-of-living ranking — licensing regimes, commercial-versus-residential mix, and how tight the local labor market is all move the number.

Within-state variation is often bigger than between-state variation. A HVAC technician in your state's largest metro and one three hours away are frequently further apart on pay than two states are on this list. The state median is a starting point, not an answer.

The median is not the hiring rate. You don't hire the median tech. If you want someone experienced, licensed, and reliable — the kind of person who's currently employed somewhere else — you're bidding against their current employer, not against the median.

Where HVAC technician pay sits against the other trades

HVAC technicians ($61,010) sit a few thousand below both plumbers ($63,800) and electricians ($63,190) at the national median, and the HVAC spread is narrower — $48,110 to $84,390, against a range that runs past $101,000 in the other two trades. Fewer outlier markets, flatter pay nationally. See plumber salary by state and electrician salary by state for the side-by-side, and HVAC technician shortage statistics for why the demand side is tightening faster than the wage data alone shows.

Why HVAC technician pay keeps climbing

The BLS projects HVAC and refrigeration technicians employment to grow 8% from 2024 to 2034, and most annual openings exist to replace people leaving the occupation rather than to staff new growth. When the pool of licensed techs shrinks faster than demand, pay is what moves.

That's the mechanism we break down in skilled-trades wage growth — and it's why raises alone rarely fix a retention problem. If pay were the only lever, the shortage would have solved itself already.

What to do with this if you're hiring

Benchmark to your metro, not the national median. Use your state row as the floor.
Re-benchmark annually. Wage growth quietly reprices your existing crew — a tech hired at market two years ago may be under market now, which is exactly the opening a competitor needs.
Publish the range in the job post. Trades candidates filter hard on pay, and a post without a number gets skipped in favour of one that has it.
Don't compete on pay alone. The shops that hold onto techs pair market pay with consistent hours and a real growth path — see how to retain HVAC and plumbing techs.

The bottom line

Pay is the price of entry, not the differentiator. Knowing your state's number keeps you from underbidding the market and losing candidates you never even heard from — but the shops that win the good techs are the ones already talking to them before a seat opens.

That's the always-on approach we run for plumbing and HVAC businesses: a pre-screened bench, so when a seat opens you're making an offer instead of starting a search. See how done-for-you hiring works.