Statewide pay Government data
Auto mechanics in Pennsylvania earn a statewide median of $49,800 a year, 2% above the typical U.S. metro, ranking #29 of 50 states and DC. About 29,400 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near Pennsylvania
See all states on the auto mechanic overview.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes auto mechanic pay for 16 Pennsylvania metros. The highest-paying is Philadelphia at $58,460, followed by Allentown and York.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| PhiladelphiaPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $58,460 | $57,004 | 12,700 |
| AllentownPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $57,810 | $57,829 | 1,830 |
| YorkPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $55,110 | $57,406 | 1,000 |
| ReadingPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $51,310 | $52,864 | 890 |
| LancasterPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $50,530 | $51,426 | 1,540 |
| HarrisburgPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $49,540 | $50,218 | 1,410 |
| LebanonPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $49,180 | $52,760 | 300 |
| PittsburghPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $48,900 | $51,653 | 6,430 |
| GettysburgPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $48,770 | $51,133 | 220 |
| WilliamsportPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $48,450 | $52,463 | 340 |
| ChambersburgPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $48,270 | $51,003 | 400 |
| ScrantonPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $47,600 | $50,879 | 1,300 |
| State CollegePENNSYLVANIA · PA | $47,240 | $48,821 | 300 |
| EriePENNSYLVANIA · PA | $46,840 | $51,501 | 670 |
| JohnstownPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $46,350 | $53,940 | 330 |
| AltoonaPENNSYLVANIA · PA | $46,160 | $51,571 | 400 |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (metro-level). Real pay: BEA price parities, 2024. How we calculate
Pay outside the cities Government data
BLS also reports pay for Pennsylvania's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul automotive vehicles.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5.0% from 2025 to 2035, with about 66,200 openings a year. Typical training: short-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, auto mechanics have 204 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 2.4× the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is being struck by or caught in objects and equipment.
What the work is like Government data
How often auto mechanics deal with each condition, from surveys of workers in the job.
Getting started usually takes medium preparation (vocational training or an apprenticeship, often 1–2+ years).
O*NET 31.0 Work Context and Job Zones (U.S. Department of Labor), national.
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
From 2015 to 2024, auto repair shops in Pennsylvania filed 21 severe injury reports (a hospital stay, amputation or loss of an eye), 6 of them involving an amputation. The most common cause was contact with objects and equipment (57% of reports). These cover everyone at those employers, not only auto mechanics. OSHA also opened 5 fatality investigations at auto repair shops in Pennsylvania over the same years (federal and state programs).
OSHA Severe Injury Reports, January 2015–December 2024 (states under federal OSHA only).
Fatality investigations: OSHA Fatality Inspection Data, events 2015–2024, all states.
Where to train in Pennsylvania Government data
34 schools in Pennsylvania offer vehicle maintenance and repair programs below the bachelor's level, 21 of them at public colleges. Many people in this trade learn through an apprenticeship instead; a program can shorten it or get you hired as a helper.
Where published, graduates earned a median of $44,396 in their first year out.
| School | Credential | Yearly cost | Recent grads | First-year pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universal Technical Institute of Pennsylvania Inc Exton, PA · Private for-profit | Certificate | $35,048 | 393 | $47,064 |
| Lincoln Technical Institute-Levittown Levittown, PA · Private for-profit | Certificate | $34,752 | 210 | $40,232 |
| Automotive Training Center-Exton Exton, PA · Private for-profit | Certificate | $23,492 | 151 | $43,974 |
| Automotive Training Center-Warminster Warminster, PA · Private for-profit | Certificate | $23,216 | 131 | $43,974 |
| Rosedale Technical College Pittsburgh, PA · Private nonprofit | Associate degree | $21,135 | 94 | $46,045 |
| Pennsylvania College of Technology Williamsport, PA · Public | Associate degree | $33,428 | 92 | $53,478 |
| Aviation Institute of Maintenance-Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA · Private for-profit | Certificate | $33,314 | 78 | $59,288 |
| New Castle School of Trades New Castle, PA · Private for-profit | Associate degree | $16,619 | 52 | $38,811 |
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (data updated October 2026). Cost is the school's average yearly cost of attendance before financial aid; earnings are the median for graduates one year after finishing, shown only where the school has enough graduates to publish. “—” means not published.
Licensing in Pennsylvania Official source
The main state licensing office in Pennsylvania is the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. Home improvement contractors register with the state; most trades are licensed locally. It can point you to the right license for auto mechanics.
Official Pennsylvania licensing site ↗
Requirements for auto mechanics vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 10.9% of wage and salary workers in Pennsylvania were union members, above the U.S. rate of about 10% (#20 of 51 states and D.C.), and 11.7% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only auto mechanics.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in Pennsylvania
All trades in Pennsylvania.