New skilled trades report sizes up the HVAC workforce
Employment of HVAC technicians and installers grew nearly 20 percent between 2019 and 2025, per the Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades
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A new report titled “The State of America’s Skilled Trades” outlines key trends impacting dozens of trades, measured both nationally and by state.
It notes that employment of HVAC technicians and installers grew nearly 20 percent between 2019 and 2025 — and is projected to grow another 10.9 percent by 2035.
What’s happening: The Alliance for America’s Skilled Trades on September 30 released the report, one of its first projects since BlackRock, Carhartt, Ford, and Google formed the coalition in July to help close the trades’ labor gap. The same day, the Alliance announced 14 new members, including DeWalt, Meta, and Milwaukee Tool.
By the numbers: 19 percent of the HVAC technician and installer workforce is aged 55 and over, while 14 percent is aged under 25, per the report.
- 8,889: The number of workers aged 55 and over, assumed to retire evenly over the next decade.
- $63,000: The median worker pay as of 2025, up 27 percent since 2019, before inflation.
The big picture: The report ranks HVAC 139th of 525 occupations, trades and non-trades alike, for “national shortage pressure,” a measure of how hard an occupation is to staff compared to others, not a count of unfilled jobs.
- Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Tennessee are ranked as the top three states with the greatest HVAC shortage pressure, respectively, while Hawaii, Washington State, and South Dakota round out the bottom three.
What they’re saying: “For HVAC, the challenge is not simply preparing more new technicians. It is connecting initial training to high-quality workplace learning while also keeping incumbent technicians current as equipment changes,” the report notes.
- “Contractors carry much of that responsibility: About 68% of HVAC workers were employed by plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors in 2025,” it adds.
- “New technicians build proficiency alongside experienced workers, but seasonal peaks, emergency calls, and travel between customer sites can make sustained supervision difficult, especially for smaller contractors.”
Of note: The Alliance estimates that 18.4 million trade workers add $3.8 trillion in value to the U.S. economy each year, representing 12.3 percent of GDP.
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