Maintenance Technicians in the Visalia area earn a median of $50,580 a year, 5% above the typical U.S. metro. That ranks #130 of 393 metros for maintenance technicians nationwide.
Within driving distance, the same work pays more in Hanford and Bakersfield, but less in San Luis Obispo.
It's one of 25 California metros with published pay for this trade; see maintenance technician pay in California.
Maintenance Technician pay in Visalia at a glance
- Maintenance technicians in the Visalia, CA metro earn a median $50,580 a year ($24.32 an hour), #130 of 393 U.S. metros (BLS, May 2025).
- The middle 80% earn between $36,090 and $78,400.
- After local prices, that median buys what $50,669 would in a typical U.S. place (BEA, 2024).
- A typical 1-bedroom rents for $1,108 a month, 26% of the median pay (HUD, FY2027).
Check your pay here
Enter a rate to see where it falls among maintenance technicians in Visalia.
Comparing two real offers with overtime and commutes? Use the job offer checker. The median here works out to about $24 an hour in yearly terms.
What this means Our calculation
Pay for maintenance technicians here is above average compared with other U.S. metros, and about average once local prices are factored in. For the wider job market, unemployment is higher than in most metros (10.8%) and the population is growing at a typical pace (+2.4% since 2020).
Visalia scorecard for maintenance technicians Our calculation
Grades compare Visalia with every other U.S. metro for this trade (A = top 20%).
Pay Government data
Pay range
Shaded: the middle half of workers. Grey line: typical U.S. metro ($48,330).
Pay over time
The median pay for maintenance technicians in the Visalia area went from $38,850 in 2020 to $50,580 in 2025, up 30.2%. Prices rose 25% over the same period, so after inflation that's +3.8% — a real raise.
BLS OEWS, May 2020–May 2025; inflation: CPI-U (May to May). Year-to-year changes can include survey noise.
Compared with nearby metros
What the pay is really worth in Visalia Our calculation
Prices in the Visalia area run 0% below the U.S. average. Adjusted for that, a median paycheck here buys what $50,669 would in a typical place, ranking #212 of 387 on real pay.
Real pay or rent burden?
Real pay already accounts for housing, because the price index includes rent. Rent burden shows what share of pay a typical 1-bedroom takes. Use either one, not both together.
Want the full picture? Build a cost-of-living budget for Visalia from this pay, local rent and prices.
What maintenance technicians do
Perform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. Duties may involve pipe fitting; HVAC maintenance; insulating; welding; machining; carpentry; repairing electrical or mechanical equipment; installing, aligning, and balancing new equipment; and repairing buildings, floors, or stairs.
Most important day-to-day tasks
- Perform routine maintenance, such as inspecting drives, motors, or belts, checking fluid levels, replacing filters, or doing other preventive maintenance actions.
- Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions.
- Adjust functional parts of devices or control instruments, using hand tools, levels, plumb bobs, or straightedges.
- Repair machines, equipment, or structures, using tools such as hammers, hoists, saws, drills, wrenches, or equipment such as precision measuring instruments or electrical or electronic testing devices.
- Order parts, supplies, or equipment from catalogs or suppliers.
Outlook & getting started
Nationally, maintenance technician jobs are projected to grow 4.2% from 2025 to 2035 (all jobs: 3.5%), with about 148,700 openings a year. About 1% are self-employed.
What the work is like Government data
How often maintenance 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.
Licensing in California Official source
The main state licensing office in California is the Contractors State License Board. Licenses all trades by classification (e.g. C-10 electrical; C-36 plumbing). It can point you to the right license for maintenance technicians.
Official California licensing site ↗
Requirements for maintenance technicians vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
On-the-job safety Government data
Nationally, maintenance technicians have 212 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.
BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 2023–2024 (national, cases with days away from work).
Highest-paying CA metros for maintenance technicians
| Metro | Median | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| San FranciscoCALIFORNIA · CA | $63,630 | $55,037 | 18,550 |
| San JoseCALIFORNIA · CA | $63,220 | $57,253 | 7,750 |
| NapaCALIFORNIA · CA | $61,860 | $54,960 | 830 |
| VallejoCALIFORNIA · CA | $61,400 | $56,601 | 1,190 |
| ModestoCALIFORNIA · CA | $59,650 | $57,296 | 1,660 |
| StocktonCALIFORNIA · CA | $59,590 | $56,704 | 2,740 |
| HanfordCALIFORNIA · CA | $59,200 | $58,261 | 520 |
| Santa RosaCALIFORNIA · CA | $58,170 | $53,969 | 1,930 |
| MercedCALIFORNIA · CA | $56,700 | $57,695 | 930 |
| SacramentoCALIFORNIA · CA | $56,570 | $53,033 | 7,980 |
See every metro in California.
How much work is there? Government data
Local job market
The Visalia area's unemployment rate was 10.8% in 2025 (all workers, not just maintenance technicians), above the typical U.S. metro's 4.1%. It was 10.6% in 2021.
BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, annual averages 2021–2025 (2025 preliminary).
Getting to work
The average commute in the Visalia area is 25 minutes each way, longer than the typical metro (24 min). 16% of commuters spend 45 minutes or more. 77% drive alone, 1% take transit and 6% work from home (all workers, not just trades).
Census American Community Survey, 2024 1-year estimates (table S0801).
Population
The Visalia area's population grew 2.4% from 2020 to 2025 (473,915 → 485,146), ranking #199 of 387 metros for growth (typical metro +2.5%). More people moved out than in (net -3,670).
Census Bureau population estimates, July 1 of each year, 2020–2025.
New construction
New-home permits in Visalia are up 19% from 2021 to 2025 (1,510 → 1,790).
In 2025 the Visalia area approved permits for 1,790 new homes (1,567 single-family), or 3.7 per 1,000 residents, ranking #181 of 393 metros.
Traveling here for work
Out-of-town maintenance technicians on travel jobs here are often paid per diem. The federal rate is $136 a night for lodging plus $80 a day for meals, the Visalia rate: about $1,512 a week on top of wages. Compare a travel job here with a local one.
GSA per diem rates, FY2027 (October 2026–September 2027). Employers set their own per diem; many use the GSA rate as a guide.
Where to train near Visalia Government data
1 school in or near Visalia offers heavy and industrial equipment maintenance programs below the bachelor's level. Many people in this trade learn through an apprenticeship instead; a program can shorten it or get you hired as a helper.
| School | Credential | Yearly cost | Recent grads | First-year pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| College of the Sequoias Visalia, CA · Public | Certificate | $10,965 | 65 | — |
| College of the Sequoias Visalia, CA · Public | Associate degree | $10,965 | 11 | — |
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.
Employee vs. working for yourself Your scenario
A model, not a market rate. It shows the break-even rate to match a $50,580 employee salary once you cover what an employer normally pays for (including the employer half of Social Security and Medicare, 7.65%), then adds your profit margin. Change any number.
Break-even rate
With your profit margin
How this calculator works. Weighing a contractor job against a W-2 one? Try the 1099 vs. W-2 comparison. Billable hours are hours you can charge a customer. Driving, quoting, paperwork and slow weeks aren't billable, which is why 1,400 is a common starting point versus 2,080 paid hours as an employee.
Get maintenance technician pricing & estimate templates →Compare Visalia with another city →
Keep exploring
Could this trade pay more somewhere else?
ToolBest cities for maintenance techniciansRank every metro on pay, buying power, rent and jobs.Is a job offer here any good?
ToolCheck an offer in VisaliaSee where it falls among local maintenance technicians, after the commute.Could you afford to live here?
ToolVisalia budgetMonthly take-home, HUD rent and local prices on this pay.About this data
Local to the Visalia metro: pay (BLS, May 2025) and pay over time (2020–2025, CPI-adjusted), prices (BEA, 2024), rent (HUD, FY2027), new construction, housing, population and commuting (Census), unemployment (BLS) and business counts (Census, by industry). National: job outlook and training (BLS projections), injury rates (BLS) and duties (O*NET). Jobs are employment estimates, not open positions; grades rank Visalia against every other metro for maintenance technicians. Every source, year and formula is on our data page.
Report a data issue on this page
The Census doesn't publish one-person business or competition figures for maintenance technicians as a separate industry, so that section is left out.