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Which Trade Pays the Most?

Electrician, plumber, HVAC technician, and roofer — compared side by side in any state on BLS May 2025 wage data. The national answer is closer than anyone tells you, and it changes depending on where you live.

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Highest median in Texas

Plumber · $59,840

Trade	Texas median	Hourly	Top 10% in Texas	vs national median
Plumber	$59,840	$28.77	$81,890	−$3,960
Electrician	$58,570	$28.16	$80,300	−$4,620
HVAC Technician	$57,760	$27.77	n/a	−$3,250
Roofer	$46,030	$22.13	$61,560	−$9,410

Plumber$59,840

Electrician$58,570

HVAC Technician$57,760

Roofer$46,030

In Texas, the spread between the highest- and lowest-paying of the four trades is $13,810 — Plumber at $59,840 against Roofer at $46,030. All figures are BLS OEWS annual medians for May 2025. The HVAC 90th percentile is not shown per state because that series is not carried in this dataset; the national HVAC 90th percentile is $95,210.

The National Picture

Every figure below is from the same BLS OEWS release (May 2025), pulled from the BLS API. The “ceiling ratio” column divides each trade's 90th percentile by its own median — it measures how much headroom the trade offers above typical pay, which matters more for a career decision than the median alone.

Trade	Median	Hourly	Top 10%	Ceiling ratio	Employed	States led
Plumber	$63,800	$30.67	$108,420	1.70x	465,840	22 of 51
Electrician	$63,190	$30.38	$108,510	1.72x	757,220	25 of 51
HVAC Technician	$61,010	$29.33	$95,210	1.56x	409,670	4 of 51
Roofer	$55,440	$26.65	$81,720	1.47x	135,490	0 of 51

The Finding: There Is No National Answer

Plumbers hold the highest national median at $63,800 — but only $610 ahead of electricians, a difference of about 1%. At the 90th percentile the two are $90 apart. Statistically they are the same trade.

What is genuinely useful is that the ranking reverses depending on the state. Counting which of the four trades holds the highest median in each state and DC:

Electricians lead in 25 states
Plumbers lead in 22 states
HVAC Technicians lead in 4 states
Roofers lead in 0 states — not the highest-paying trade in a single state

So “which trade pays the most” is the wrong question. The right one is which trade pays the most where you intend to work — and the selector above answers exactly that. In Oregon an electrician leads by a wide margin; in Illinois plumbers and electricians are within a few hundred dollars of each other; in Colorado, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and North Dakota it is HVAC that comes out on top.

Roofing Is the One Real Outlier

Roofers sit $8,360 below plumbers at the median and have the tightest ceiling of the four at 1.47x. They do not hold the highest median in any state. Two structural reasons: roofing has no journeyman-and-master licensing ladder to force a wage step, and its technical ceiling in wage terms is simply lower.

The important qualifier is that this is a statement about wages, not about the roofing business. Commission-based sales and ownership are far more central to earnings in roofing than in the other three trades, and BLS wage data captures neither. A roofing sales rep on commission routinely clears the 90th percentile of the wage distribution. Our roofer salary calculator goes into this in more detail.

What This Should and Should Not Decide

Given how close plumbing, electrical, and HVAC are, pay is a weak basis for choosing between them. Better criteria:

The work itself. Electrical is generally cleaner and less physically punishing. Plumbing involves more confined space and heavier fixtures. HVAC splits between rooftop units in summer heat and comfortable diagnostic work. Roofing is the hardest on the body of the four.
Your state. The gap between trades in your state is frequently larger than the national gap between trades — and the gap between states within one trade is larger still.
Where the specialisation is. Electrical has industrial and controls; plumbing has steamfitting and medical gas; HVAC has building automation and refrigeration. These are what move you above the median, and they are not equally available in every market.
Whether you want to own a business. If yes, roofing's low wage ceiling matters far less than it appears, and the licensing burden in plumbing and electrical becomes the relevant consideration instead.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which trade pays the most: electrician, plumber, HVAC, or roofer?

Nationally, plumbers lead by a very small margin. On BLS May 2025 data the medians are $63,800 for plumbers, $63,190 for electricians, $61,010 for HVAC mechanics and installers, and $55,440 for roofers. The plumber-to-electrician gap is only $610, about 1 percent, which is too small to matter as a career-choice factor. More usefully, the answer changes by state: electricians hold the highest median in 25 states, plumbers in 22, and HVAC technicians in 4. Roofers lead in none.

Is it better to be an electrician or a plumber?

On pay alone the two trades are effectively identical — $610 apart at the median and $90 apart at the 90th percentile. The real differences are non-financial: electrical work is generally cleaner and less physically punishing, while plumbing has a slightly shorter path to a master license in many states and strong recurring-revenue certifications such as backflow prevention. Choose on the work itself and on which trade pays better in your specific state, not on the national medians.

Why do roofers earn less than other trades?

Roofing has no journeyman-and-master licensing ladder, so there is no credential that forces a wage step, and its technical ceiling is lower — the roofer 90th percentile is $81,720 against roughly $108,000 for plumbers and electricians. Roofers do not hold the highest median in any single state. The important caveat is that in roofing the money is concentrated in commission-based sales and in ownership rather than in wages, and BLS wage data captures neither.

Which trade has the highest earning potential?

By the 90th percentile of wages, electricians and plumbers are tied at roughly $108,500 and $108,400 respectively, ahead of HVAC at $95,210 and roofing at $81,720. Measured as a ratio of ceiling to median — how much headroom the trade offers above typical pay — electricians lead at 1.72x, plumbers at 1.70x, HVAC at 1.56x, and roofers at 1.47x. All four are exceeded by business ownership in any of the trades, which wage data does not measure.

Where does this comparison data come from?

All figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 release, retrieved directly from the BLS public API rather than from secondary salary sites. The SOC codes are 47-2111 for electricians, 47-2152 for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, 49-9021 for HVAC mechanics and installers, and 47-2181 for roofers.

Data Sources & Method

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 release, retrieved via the BLS public API. SOC 47-2111 (Electricians), 47-2152 (Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters), 49-9021 (HVAC Mechanics and Installers), 47-2181 (Roofers). Hourly figures are BLS median hourly wages, not annual medians divided by 2,080. The “states led” count compares state annual medians across all four trades for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Per-state 90th percentiles are shown for three trades; the HVAC state-level p90 series is not carried in this dataset, so that cell reads n/a rather than showing an estimate.

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