This article contains the most recent salary data from BLS for the highest paying skilled trade jobs. Careers in the building, construction, and the mechanics fields are included. Many of the most popular programs in the “skilled trades” will take less than 2 years to complete.
List of the Highest Paying Skilled Trades
These are some of the highest paying jobs that are commonly considered skilled trades or construction related. The salary listed is either the average or mean pay a worker earned in 2021, entry level pay will be less and those with a lot of experience will make more. The salaries listed here were updated with the newest BLS information from 2022.
- Construction Management: $108,210
- Pile Driver Operators: $75,950
- Aircraft Mechanic: $69,470
- Construction Inspectors: $68,480
- Plumbers: $63,350
- Brick Masons: $61,430
- Electrician: $63,310
- Carpenters: $55,190
- Sheet Metal Worker: $58,760
- Truck Driver: $50,340
- HVAC Technician: $54,690
- Welder: $48,290
- Auto Mechanic: $47,990
There are fast trade school programs for some of these high paying skilled trade careers. Examples of the fastest programs to graduate include CDL truck driver, hvac technician, and mechanic.
15 More Top Paying Trade School Careers
Here’s some salary data for other careers you can train for at a trade school or technical college. These include careers in the information technology, business, and medical career fields. Programs for some of these high paying technical and medical jobs can take 2-4 years to complete.
- Mechanical Engineering Technician: $63,390
- Dental Hygienist: $81,360
- Computer Systems Analyst: $102,210
- Computer Programmer: $96,650
- Radiation Therapist: $94,000
- RN Nurse: $82,750
- Accountant: $83,980
- Health Service Manager: $119,840
A few of these careers may pay even more than current government statistics show, especially if you live in a fast growing area where there’s a lack of skilled workers. I know where I live, in a growing area of Florida, experienced welders, HVAC technicians, CDL truck drivers, and electricians can make substantially more than this post indicates.
All above listed salaries have been updated with BLS data from March of 2022. New salary information will be published around May 2023 and the information on this page will be updated then.
This salary information was gathered from the official BLS website. United States National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates
Reference & more reading:
This careers guide is pretty great: https://careerschoolnow.org/careers
Thank you for compiling this list. I thought I would have to do the research myself, and I see that you already did it. I appreciate it.
Welcome Jay, the new info will be out in a couple months and I’ll update this article when it does. (edit: the new 2021 info came out and I updated this article)
Wonderful blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thank you
Well, leaving spam comments in WordPress blogs is NOT the way to get there.