State of the HVAC trade, 2026
What HVAC technicians earn in every state, where the jobs are, how fast the work is projected to grow, which states license it and what typical HVAC jobs cost. Every figure comes from a public dataset or a koira.ai cost guide, with the method below and a CSV of the full table.
The short version
- The national median for HVAC technicians is $29.33 an hour ($61,010 a year). Pay runs from $23.13 in Arkansas to $40.57 in District of Columbia.
- Florida has the most HVAC technicians on payrolls, 39,160. See hvac technician pay in every state.
- State labor offices project +5.5% more jobs nationally from 2022 to 2032, with about 37,700 openings a year. Utah leads at +34.3%.
- 29 of the 45 states koira.ai has checked require a state license for HVAC work, 12 license part of it and 4 leave it to cities and counties. The HVAC license guide has each state's steps.
- A typical central air conditioner installation is about $6,000 nationally in Koira's central air conditioner installation cost guide. By state, the Koira estimate runs from $5,448 in Arkansas to $6,923 in Hawaii.
What HVAC technicians earn
Median hourly wage by state, May 2025, the ten highest paying states. BLS published a median for 51 of the 50 states and DC.
The five lowest: Arkansas $23.13, Alabama $23.26, Mississippi $23.41, West Virginia $23.49 and New Mexico $24.17.
| Percentile | Hourly |
|---|---|
| 10th | $19.25 |
| 25th | $23.25 |
| Median | $29.33 |
| 75th | $37.05 |
| 90th | $45.78 |
What that wage means for a price
A wage is not a rate. Using the starting numbers of the free labor rate calculator (40 hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and a 15% profit), a business paying the national median has to bill about $122.10 an hour to cover it.
| Where | Median wage | Rate to bill |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $29.33 | $122.10 |
| District of Columbia, highest median | $40.57 | $141.84 |
| Arkansas, lowest median | $23.13 | $111.21 |
Change any of those numbers in the calculator to see your own rate. The CSV has the rate for every state.
Where the work is
The ten states with the most HVAC technicians employed, May 2025.
Where the trade is most concentrated
HVAC Technicians per 1,000 jobs of every kind in the state. A high number means the trade is a bigger share of local work than it is nationally.
Jobs outlook
State labor market offices project heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers jobs nationally to go from 415,800 in 2022 to 438,800 in 2032, a change of +5.5%, with about 37,700 openings a year from growth, retirements and people leaving the trade.
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, on a newer base, projects 11% growth for HVAC technicians from 2025 to 2035, about 40,600 openings a year.
The ten states with the fastest projected growth, 2022 to 2032. Projections exist for 50 states.
Slowest: Maine -1.4%, Michigan +4.6% and Kentucky +5.3%. The path into the trade, state by state, is in how to become an HVAC technician.
Licensing
Does the state require a state license for HVAC work? Each answer comes from the state's own board or statute.
- State license: 29 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
- Partly licensed (residential only, above a dollar amount, or a registration): 12. Local only: 4. Not checked yet: 6.
- 36 of the 45 checked states put an insurance or bond rule in the license itself.
What HVAC jobs cost
National price ranges from Koira's cost guides. Each guide takes the low, average and high figures of two or more published cost guides and shows them.
| Job | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC maintenance | $100 | $190 | $280 |
| Smart thermostat installation | $160 | $240 | $380 |
| AC repair | $210 | $400 | $640 |
| Air duct cleaning | $300 | $400 | $700 |
| Boiler repair | $170 | $430 | $700 |
| Attic fan installation | $300 | $540 | $880 |
| Window air conditioner installation | $190 | $550 | $1,150 |
| Ductwork replacement | $450 | $1,250 | $2,200 |
| Radiator replacement | $550 | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| Whole house fan installation | $900 | $1,700 | $2,500 |
| Radiant floor heating | $1,700 | $4,000 | $6,150 |
| Ductless mini split installation | $2,000 | $4,700 | $9,650 |
| Furnace replacement | $2,800 | $4,800 | $7,250 |
| Boiler replacement | $3,650 | $6,000 | $9,250 |
| Central air conditioner installation | $5,000 | $6,000 | $14,000 |
| Heat pump installation | $5,000 | $6,650 | $7,950 |
| Geothermal heat pump installation | $8,250 | $16,500 | $29,500 |
One job, state by state
Koira estimates of a typical central air conditioner installation in the ten most expensive states. Only the labor share of the price moves with the state's BLS wage; materials do not.
Every state
| State | Median hourly | Employed | Jobs 2022 to 2032 | State license | Typical central air conditioner installation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $29.33 | 409,670 | +5.5% | 29 states | $6,000 |
| Alabama | $23.26 | 8,260 | +9.8% | Yes | $5,527 |
| Alaska | $37.23 | 610 | +10.0% | Yes | $6,648 |
| Arizona | $28.56 | 10,860 | +18.3% | Yes | $5,939 |
| Arkansas | $23.13 | 4,960 | +9.5% | Yes | $5,448 |
| California | $34.88 | 35,130 | +11.2% | Yes | $6,489 |
| Colorado | $31.35 | 8,940 | +15.6% | Not checked yet | $6,066 |
| Connecticut | $36.83 | 3,800 | +8.0% | Yes | $6,487 |
| Delaware | $29.96 | 1,730 | +12.3% | Yes | $5,992 |
| District of Columbia | $40.57 | 400 | +8.6% | Yes | $6,426 |
| Florida | $27.24 | 39,160 | +16.9% | Yes | $5,589 |
| Georgia | $27.11 | 12,290 | +17.6% | Yes | $5,607 |
| Hawaii | $31.47 | 1,300 | Not published | Yes | $6,923 |
| Idaho | $27.04 | 4,550 | +26.9% | Yes | $5,863 |
| Illinois | $37.21 | 9,740 | +6.0% | No, local only | $6,848 |
| Indiana | $29.05 | 8,530 | +7.8% | No, local only | $6,093 |
| Iowa | $29.17 | 3,840 | +13.3% | Yes | $5,997 |
| Kansas | $29.07 | 3,770 | +8.1% | No, local only | $5,816 |
| Kentucky | $28.18 | 5,100 | +5.3% | Yes | $5,742 |
| Louisiana | $28.20 | 5,380 | +9.2% | Partly | $5,613 |
| Maine | $30.37 | 2,250 | -1.4% | Partly | $6,031 |
| Maryland | $33.67 | 8,560 | +9.7% | Yes | $6,013 |
| Massachusetts | $37.16 | 8,200 | +8.6% | Partly | $6,723 |
| Michigan | $29.26 | 12,590 | +4.6% | Yes | $6,066 |
| Minnesota | $36.71 | 4,200 | +8.0% | Partly | $6,526 |
| Mississippi | $23.41 | 2,700 | +20.2% | Yes | $5,486 |
| Missouri | $28.82 | 7,220 | +6.6% | Not checked yet | $6,088 |
| Montana | $29.26 | 1,230 | +26.1% | Partly | $6,057 |
| Nebraska | $28.77 | 3,020 | +13.2% | Partly | $5,768 |
| Nevada | $29.09 | 4,170 | +14.8% | Yes | $6,088 |
| New Hampshire | $35.51 | 2,560 | +6.7% | Not checked yet | $6,022 |
| New Jersey | $35.79 | 10,330 | +7.4% | Yes | $6,561 |
| New Mexico | $24.17 | 1,950 | +16.1% | Yes | $5,611 |
| New York | $35.78 | 24,430 | +6.5% | Not checked yet | $6,438 |
| North Carolina | $27.53 | 15,230 | +12.9% | Yes | $5,591 |
| North Dakota | $35.81 | 970 | +12.6% | Partly | $6,065 |
| Ohio | $30.06 | 14,150 | +6.0% | Partly | $6,105 |
| Oklahoma | $27.67 | 5,650 | +7.7% | Yes | $5,560 |
| Oregon | $30.26 | 3,980 | +19.3% | Yes | $6,265 |
| Pennsylvania | $30.00 | 15,880 | +5.6% | No, local only | $6,039 |
| Rhode Island | $32.39 | 1,450 | +13.6% | Yes | $6,141 |
| South Carolina | $27.22 | 6,920 | +7.7% | Yes | $5,598 |
| South Dakota | $29.51 | 1,610 | +16.2% | Not checked yet | $5,620 |
| Tennessee | $26.68 | 9,740 | +9.8% | Partly | $5,636 |
| Texas | $27.77 | 34,730 | +17.4% | Yes | $5,582 |
| Utah | $28.24 | 5,580 | +34.3% | Yes | $5,904 |
| Vermont | $29.88 | 970 | +7.2% | Partly | $6,008 |
| Virginia | $28.72 | 14,690 | +6.0% | Yes | $5,875 |
| Washington | $36.38 | 7,370 | +11.0% | Partly | $6,643 |
| West Virginia | $23.49 | 1,690 | +6.2% | Yes | $5,922 |
| Wisconsin | $29.67 | 6,630 | +12.9% | Partly | $6,165 |
| Wyoming | $26.30 | 690 | +23.9% | Not checked yet | $6,008 |
How this report is made
Pay and employment are cells from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics files for May 2025 (state file, national file), occupation code 49-9021, all industries. They count people on a payroll; owner-operators are not in them. A cell BLS did not publish reads "Not published" and is empty in the CSV.
The rate to bill is the labor rate calculator's formula with its starting assumptions listed above and only the wage changed: the yearly cost of the worker plus overhead, spread over the billable hours, then a profit margin on top.
Job projections are each state labor market office's long-term projection for 2022 to 2032, published together by Projections Central. A state missing from that file has no figure here. The national outlook line quotes the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Licensing counts only rows of the HVAC license guide that an official board or statute page confirmed. States not checked yet are shown that way, never guessed. This is not legal advice.
Job prices come from the koira.ai cost guides. The national band is worked out from the published guides each one lists. State prices are Koira estimates: the labor share of the band is scaled by the state's BLS median wage for the work over the national median, held to 0.7 to 1.4. See the job prices by state report for the same method across trades.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers; Projections Central, long-term occupational projections 2022 to 2032 (state labor market offices); Fixr, hvac maintenance cost; Bob Vila, hvac maintenance cost; This Old House, hvac maintenance cost; Today's Homeowner, hvac maintenance cost; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state and national files); Fixr, smart thermostat installation cost; HomeAdvisor, smart thermostat installation cost; Fixr, ac repair cost; HomeAdvisor, ac repair cost; Bob Vila, ac repair cost; Today's Homeowner, ac repair cost; Fixr, air duct cleaning cost; HomeAdvisor, air duct cleaning cost; Bob Vila, air duct cleaning cost; Today's Homeowner, air duct cleaning cost; Fixr, boiler repair cost; Bob Vila, boiler repair cost; Fixr, attic fan installation cost; HomeAdvisor, attic fan installation cost; Bob Vila, attic fan installation cost; Fixr, window air conditioner installation cost; HomeAdvisor, window air conditioner installation cost; This Old House, window air conditioner installation cost; Fixr, ductwork replacement cost; HomeAdvisor, ductwork replacement cost; Today's Homeowner, ductwork replacement cost; This Old House, ductwork replacement cost; Fixr, radiator replacement cost; Bob Vila, radiator replacement cost; Today's Homeowner, radiator replacement cost; Fixr, whole house fan installation cost; Today's Homeowner, whole house fan installation cost; Fixr, radiant floor heating cost; HomeAdvisor, radiant floor heating cost; Bob Vila, radiant floor heating cost; Today's Homeowner, radiant floor heating cost; Fixr, ductless mini split installation cost; HomeAdvisor, ductless mini split installation cost; Bob Vila, ductless mini split installation cost; This Old House, ductless mini split installation cost; Today's Homeowner, ductless mini split installation cost; Fixr, furnace replacement cost; HomeAdvisor, furnace replacement cost; This Old House, furnace replacement cost; Today's Homeowner, furnace replacement cost; Fixr, boiler replacement cost; HomeAdvisor, boiler replacement cost; This Old House, boiler replacement cost; Today's Homeowner, boiler replacement cost; Fixr, central air conditioner installation cost; HomeAdvisor, central air conditioner installation cost; Bob Vila, central air conditioner installation cost; Today's Homeowner, central air conditioner installation cost; This Old House, central air conditioner installation cost; Fixr, heat pump installation cost; HomeAdvisor, heat pump installation cost; Bob Vila, heat pump installation cost; Today's Homeowner, heat pump installation cost; This Old House, heat pump installation cost; Fixr, geothermal heat pump installation cost; HomeAdvisor, geothermal heat pump installation cost; Bob Vila, geothermal heat pump installation cost; Today's Homeowner, geothermal heat pump installation cost.
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Data as of: BLS wages and employment, May 2025. Job projections, 2022 to 2032 (Projections Central). License rows checked October 8, 2026. Cost guides checked October 9, 2026. All reports.