Statewide pay Government data
Hvac technicians in Washington earn a statewide median of $75,660 a year, 27% above the typical U.S. metro, ranking #7 of 50 states and DC. About 7,370 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near Washington
See all states on the HVAC technicians nationwide.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes HVAC technician pay for 11 Washington metros. The highest-paying is Seattle at $80,100, followed by Mount Vernon and Olympia.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| SeattleWASHINGTON · WA | $80,100 | $72,076 | 3,940 |
| Mount VernonWASHINGTON · WA | $77,010 | $75,174 | 150 |
| OlympiaWASHINGTON · WA | $76,260 | $73,560 | 270 |
| KennewickWASHINGTON · WA | $75,660 | $75,600 | 520 |
| BremertonWASHINGTON · WA | $74,650 | $70,687 | 180 |
| BellinghamWASHINGTON · WA | $72,190 | $69,861 | 240 |
| YakimaWASHINGTON · WA | $65,900 | $68,973 | 160 |
| LongviewWASHINGTON · WA | $64,400 | $66,021 | 80 |
| SpokaneWASHINGTON · WA | $62,840 | $62,623 | 610 |
| Walla WallaWASHINGTON · WA | $62,530 | $63,470 | 80 |
| WenatcheeWASHINGTON · WA | $61,630 | $59,342 | 120 |
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 Washington'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.
Licensed contractors Government data
Washington had 645 active HVAC/R contractor licenses in October 2026. Washington requires every construction contractor to register with L&I, so the count covers specialty firms, not only licensed trades.
Washington Department of Labor & Industries, contractor license data, October 2026 (active licenses only).
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
Washington 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 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 Washington Government data
13 schools in Washington offer HVAC/R programs below the bachelor's level, 10 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 $54,720 in their first year out.
| School | Credential | Yearly cost | Recent grads | First-year pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEI College-Tacoma Tacoma, WA · Private for-profit | Certificate | $34,978 | 66 | $40,234 |
| Clover Park Technical College Lakewood, WA · Public | Certificate | $27,682 | 62 | — |
| Northwest HVAC/R Training Center Spokane, WA · Private nonprofit | Certificate | $20,385 | 45 | $54,720 |
| Walla Walla Community College Walla Walla, WA · Public | Certificate | $24,688 | 44 | — |
| Perry Technical Institute Yakima, WA · Private nonprofit | Certificate | $30,780 | 35 | $58,367 |
| Bates Technical College Tacoma, WA · Public | Associate degree | $20,734 | 31 | — |
| Clover Park Technical College Lakewood, WA · Public | Associate degree | $27,682 | 29 | — |
| Walla Walla Community College Walla Walla, WA · Public | Associate degree | $24,688 | 10 | — |
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 Washington Official source
The main state licensing office in Washington is the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. It can point you to the right license for HVAC technicians.
Official Washington licensing site ↗
Requirements for HVAC technicians vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 18.0% of wage and salary workers in Washington were union members, above the U.S. rate of about 10% (#4 of 51 states and D.C.), and 19.4% 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 Washington
All trades in Washington.