HVAC Technician Salary 💲 (2022 Update)

This is a good video to figure out how much HVAC Workers make an hour. A lot of people want to get in the trades but they just don't know how much money they will make an hour. We are going to talk about that in this video.

HVAC techs make good money. You’re not likely to start out at minimum wage, but it’s possible.
Knowing this, you can expect the average salary for an HVAC to be from $20.00/hr (about $40,000/yr) to $50.00/hr (about $90,000/yr). The average technician makes $25.00/hr.

Alaska has the highest average pay rate at about $40.00/hr. Alabama has the lowest right now, with an average salary of $19.00/hr.

California has the most HVAC jobs available, paying over $50,000 a year. Alaska has the lowest percentage of HVAC jobs offering more than $50,000 a year.

Connecticut, Maryland, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire, Florida, Alaska, and New York all have at least one city where the average technician makes $40.00 to
$50.00/hr.

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[eliasgarcia]

I am 32 years old based out of Denver Colorado. My father was a master electrician and started his own company when he was in his young 30’s. Parents got divorced and I was basically on my own. I started my own company when I was 30, with 12 years experience in electrical/hvac since 18. I am currently pulling in $140k/year and growing. Not bragging but potential is in every industry, how bad do you want it and how hard will you work for yourself, so you don’t have to work for someone else?

[nicehvac]

The average salary for an HVAC technician in 2022 is expected to be $53, 000. This number can vary depending on the technician's experience, location, and other factors.

[jasonjohnsonHVAC]

Residential ( with all the sales push ) can be $100k a year. Commercial/ industrial ( thats what i do ) you get your hourly and thats about it. The hourly in commercial/ industrial is higher than residential for the most part. Union commercial/ industrial definitely makes more per hour than non union.

[chriscermak]

Honestly, in any of the trades if you can't get in a union, do something with computers. Making 50k a year to destroy your body does not leave you any money to save for when you get older and can't work.

[foreverastudent]

This is a topic that pulls at heart strings for me. I love the HVAC trade and the work of it, but my experience in the Chicagoland suburbs has been very different than what I was told I would see when I changed careers less than two years ago. I made the scary leap into a new line of work, knowing nothing when I started, and taking a large pay cut as well. Everything I have done up to this point is 95% Residential / 5% commercial.

I devoured all knowledge I could find from night classes, YouTube videos, textbooks, talking to veterans in the field, etc. I bought all of my own tools, including my gauges. I went from $18-24/hr in my first 8 months. I proceeded to hit my first plateau around $25/hr. I stayed at that pay rate for the following 8 months. I got increasingly frustrated due to my workload and performance growing exponentially as time went on, but my pay stayed the same. I kept consuming every bit of knowledge I could get my hands on, assuming I wasn't bringing the value I thought I was. My first boss sold the company and I decided to look elsewhere. I wanted to see if maybe I was just with a poorly run company.

I applied everywhere I saw looking for techs in my area. Every single offer I found was either low ceiling, lowballing me anywhere from $18-22/hr to start, had no or almost no benefits, or was a very large company that I learned saved all of the nice paying jobs for friends and family of ownership.

I talked with a lead service tech from a company in my area and he was very nice and professional with me. I sadly got turned off when he boasted to me about how he stuck with his current employer for 12 years and made around 40$ an hour average last year factoring in commissions. That is $83, 200 at a 40 hr work week if we assume the OT averages out with the slow season. I am not insulting this man, but for me personally, if I spent 12 years of my life learning a skill and I wasn't making at least 100k/yr something is very wrong...

I decided to apply for apartment maintenance technician positions. Some offers I received were horrible, but most were pretty good. I chose one and walked in the door making 15k/yr more than what any of the HVAC companies offered. To boot, I received an incredible benefits package, including a lot of paid time off, and 8k in bonuses for my first year. I even got a 2k sign on bonus and discounted rent for crying out loud. This was all DAY 1 TO START.

The biggest battle I have faced so far in my HVAC journey is why do the apartment complexes value and pay more for HVAC knowledge than the actual HVAC companies themselves? I love HVAC but I don't know what the issue is here. Within a couple of years, I will be making as much as the guy of 12 years, but I will have a significantly better benefits package with a lot more PTO.

The HVAC field seems very fractured and in disarray. I never would have expected how little the HVAC companies I encountered valued their techs compared to apartment maintenance. Only reason I applied for apartment maintenance was because a buddy of mine makes well over 120k doing apartment maintenance as a regional. I genuinely don't know what is going on and I am not bashing HVAC. I am just a young guy, a couple years into the trade, feeling discouraged. Any genuine answers, tips of advice, or encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[zacharyreed]

If you ain't banging out sales and commission work as a resi tech, you are screwed. It's like this across the trades.

My dad made 1k a week on average, guess what so can you, its 2022 tho, so that ain't shit.

I live in a very high hvac demand area aka the desert.

Summer time which lasts months.
2-3k a week for 3ish months.
1.5-3k a week for 3ish months.
500-2k a week for 3ish months.
500-1.5k a week for 3ish months.

Trying to explain the importance of maintenance to your client, priceless...

Edit for side work, don't forget side work.

[MrBewar]

North Texas, Residential senior service tech. Commission pay + "overtime hours only"

I do push for sales, (systems, IAQ, system repairs and rebuilds for example
capacitor, contactor, and start kit instead of just replacing the capacitor.

I make between 125-150k a year

[hawkeye-hiqg]

I work on chilled water so big equipment million dollar systems in Brisbane and the average pay for a chiller mechanic is between 45 - 50 Australian dollars an hour. So working on 45 per hr the take home pay is $1302. The benfits are ok you can get a vehicle allowance whicj is $18, 000 annually which in taxed it works out to ne about $230 take home. Overtime can be as much as 10 - 15k a year

[Seedavis]

South Carolina started Hvac out of highschool at 9$ per hour. Now with 14 years of residential experience just left the company I had worked for the whole time for a management position at 120k salary. Built a decent amount of side business over the years and turn down quite a bit of work unless I’m 100% confident I can meet the customers needs….as well as labor warranty. Pulling in 20-30k per year with side work so around 150k yearly. Not bad for a 34 year old with no college. Also I have built a relationship with several reputable installers so most of the changeouts I sell I don’t even touch. Just follow up to collect and inspect job. I pay my installers cash and pay them well. They know what I expect and I trust them to do a good job. Most average changeouts I sell I pocket 1500$-2000$ and pay 2 guys 500$ each. 😀 Hvac is very profitable especially when your competition has so much overhead and are charging quite a bit more for jobs. Work hard and learn as much as you can people! Owning your own business isn’t for everybody and I’m still on the fence about it, and have been for 5 years!

[jaybartgis]

Man I'm a truck driver trying to get out and to switch careers. Man. All of the wages for every job is so dog shit low and takes 40 years of experience to make a comfortable living. Who in their right mind would dedicated years of their life to a "skill" paying 40k a year when the average Joe Blow house costs like $400, 000. I could literally go stock shelves at Walmart for at least $18/ hour

[OGxSoup]

I make 26 a hour and it barely pays my bills as a single. Rent $1500 is a joke.

[metaltera]

I’m in Oregon and in my area if you’re a seasoned tech then all jobs are paying at least 60-70k a year

[mwdub]

It’s a very hard physically demanding job for so little money. Even making 90k a year isn’t enough nowadays with inflation let alone making a little over 50k.

[Ittiz]

Jeez, I got a BS in Molecular Biology and according to you an HVAC technician in my area with less experience than I have in my field can be making more than me! Man I'm in the wrong job !

[tommymatthews]

Residential installer here been doing it for over 10 years. Making 21$ a hour feel like I'm getting screwed over

[patrickg]

I work in manufacturing as an electronics tech near PA/NJ. I have an associates degree from community college and also did some HVAC classes. The pay rate seems to align across all of the similar technician titles (hvac, auto, network). I considered HVAC but honestly it is a physically demanding job and the schedule can be crazy. Most techs in my industry are coming in right out of a 2 year program at $25/hr with annual increase, OT available, excellent benefits, 401k match, profit sharing, Xmas bonuses. Just my 2 cents.

[NorCal-refrigeration]

Local 104 SF. 73 an hour on the check.

[paulgiordano]

Pretty spot on. I’m in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area

[MrRene]

Why are salaries soooo low? When a company sends a technician, normally the cost per call is between 800 dollars to 5 thousand. I have called Air con companies who come out look at the air con for. a couple of minutes and I get charge 800 dollars. Once I called to get refrigerant to be added, took about 45 minutes, was billed 2, 000 dollars. to install a 2, 000 air con, I get charged normally 6 to 8 thousand dollars. In my mind the technician is making lots of cash.

[TheEmpireAnimations]

Thank you for the actually salary review 👍