Statewide pay Government data
Hvac technicians in Indiana earn a statewide median of $60,430 a year, 1% above the typical U.S. metro, ranking #30 of 50 states and DC. About 8,530 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near Indiana
See all states on the HVAC technicians nationwide.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes HVAC technician pay for 12 Indiana metros. The highest-paying is Kokomo at $64,800, followed by Indianapolis and Lafayette.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| KokomoINDIANA · IN | $64,800 | $72,283 | 170 |
| IndianapolisINDIANA · IN | $62,160 | $64,956 | 3,080 |
| LafayetteINDIANA · IN | $61,430 | $65,750 | 230 |
| BloomingtonINDIANA · IN | $60,920 | $64,070 | 180 |
| Fort WayneINDIANA · IN | $60,830 | $65,711 | 870 |
| Michigan CityINDIANA · IN | $60,810 | $66,327 | 90 |
| ElkhartINDIANA · IN | $59,590 | $65,973 | 240 |
| EvansvilleINDIANA · IN | $59,500 | $65,007 | 490 |
| South BendINDIANA · IN | $59,460 | $64,033 | 370 |
| MuncieINDIANA · IN | $55,850 | $63,359 | 80 |
| ColumbusINDIANA · IN | $54,490 | $58,590 | 70 |
| Terre HauteINDIANA · IN | $54,300 | $61,847 | 140 |
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 Indiana's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
Install or repair heating, central air conditioning, HVAC, or refrigeration systems, including oil burners, hot-air furnaces, and heating stoves.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10.9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 40,600 openings a year. Typical training: long-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, HVAC technicians have 214 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 2.5× 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 HVAC technicians 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.
Registered apprenticeships Government data
Of HVAC technician apprentices in Indiana who finished or left a registered program in fiscal years 2020–2024, 37% completed (U.S.: 52%), about 30 graduates a year. The typical program runs 6,000 hours, about 3 years of full-time work. Union programs had a 100% completion rate, compared with 22% for non-union programs. Search open registered programs near you on the official Apprenticeship Finder.
U.S. Department of Labor, RAPIDS apprentice records (Completion Rate Analysis), FY2020–2024 exits.
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
Indiana runs its own workplace-safety program (an OSHA State Plan), so its injury reports aren't in the federal dataset. Nationally, in states federal OSHA covers, plumbing and HVAC contractors filed 1,305 severe injury reports from 2015 to 2024; the most common cause was falls, slips and trips (46%). OSHA also opened 3 fatality investigations at plumbing and HVAC contractors in Indiana 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 Indiana Government data
3 schools in Indiana offer HVAC/R programs below the bachelor's level, 2 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 $46,750 in their first year out.
| School | Credential | Yearly cost | Recent grads | First-year pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis, IN · Public | Certificate | $14,023 | 346 | $48,661 |
| Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis, IN · Public | Associate degree | $14,023 | 86 | $46,750 |
| Fortis College-Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN · Private for-profit | Certificate | $34,366 | 18 | $41,020 |
| Vincennes University Vincennes, IN · Public | Associate degree | $21,121 | 0 | — |
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 Indiana Official source
The main state licensing office in Indiana is the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. The state licenses plumbers; most other trades are licensed locally. It can point you to the right license for HVAC technicians.
Official Indiana licensing site ↗
Requirements for HVAC technicians vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 8.3% of wage and salary workers in Indiana were union members, below the U.S. rate of about 10% (#27 of 51 states and D.C.), and 9.6% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only HVAC technicians.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in Indiana
All trades in Indiana.