HVAC Technician Salary Calculator

1. Select hourly rate or annual salary and enter what you are paid now, or what a job offers.
2. Enter regular hours and weeks worked. For busy-season overtime, enter the average overtime hours across all worked weeks.
3. Check the annual gross pay, the pay per period and the BLS percentile for your base rate. A second offer is optional.

What each result tells you:

The tool opens on the BLS median rate of $29.33 an hour. Over 40 hours and 52 weeks that is $61,006.40 a year.

An HVAC technician salary calculator is a pay converter that also benchmarks the rate against government wage data. It answers two questions: what a rate adds up to over a year, and how that rate compares with other technicians.

The benchmark is the Bureau of Labor Statistics code 49-9021, Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers. BLS says these workers, often called HVAC technicians, work on heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration systems that control temperature and air quality in buildings. Refrigeration mechanics are in the same code, so the figures cover both.

Service technicians, installers, trade-school students and employers setting a pay band all use the comparison. The tool does not adjust for certifications, years of experience or a residential or commercial focus. BLS publishes no national multipliers for those, and this page does not invent any.

The calculator computes yearly straight-time pay and overtime pay from your inputs, then places your base rate between the BLS wage percentiles.

1. Base pay. Rate times regular hours times weeks. A salary is first divided by hours times weeks to get a rate.
2. Overtime pay. Rate times multiplier times average overtime hours times weeks. Federal law requires at least time and one-half after 40 hours in a workweek for covered, nonexempt employees. For one specific week, use the overtime pay calculator.
3. Period pay. Annual gross divided by 12 gives the month. Annual gross divided by weeks worked gives the week.
4. Percentile. A rate of $30.50 lies between the median of $29.33 and the 75th percentile of $37.05. Straight-line interpolation puts it near the 54th percentile.

BLS wages are straight-time pay. They exclude overtime pay and on-call pay, so the percentile is based on your base rate alone.

A service technician earns $30.50 an hour and is paid for 50 weeks. During 16 peak summer and winter weeks she works 10 overtime hours a week. The other weeks have none.

1. Total overtime hours: 16 x 10 = 160 hours.
2. Average per worked week: 160 / 50 = 3.2 hours. Enter 3.2 as the overtime hours.
3. Straight-time pay: $30.50 x 40 x 50 = $61,000.00.
4. Overtime pay: $30.50 x 1.5 x 3.2 x 50 = $7,320.00.
5. Annual gross: $68,320.00, or $5,693.33 a month on average.

Her base rate is +$1.17 an hour against the median, or +4.0%. The weekly figure of $1,366.40 is an average. Peak weeks pay more and quiet weeks pay less, so budget from the annual number.

HVAC technicians earned a median of $29.33 an hour in May 2025, or $61,010 a year. The mean was $31.14 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $40,050, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $95,210.

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 49-9021 Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers, national estimates. Read on 2026-10-02. BLS did not top-code any of these figures.

The middle half of technicians earned between $23.25 and $37.05 an hour, a band of $13.80.

Industry

Most technicians work for contractors, and that is the lowest paying of the top industries. The median was $60,030 at plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors and $71,190 in wholesale trade. Contractors employ 68 percent of technicians.

Specialized Employers

Airlines, railroads and gas utilities pay the highest hourly means, led by scheduled air transportation at $54.16. Few technicians work in these industries.

State

The District of Columbia has the highest mean wage at $40.83 an hour. Florida has the most HVAC jobs.

Season and On-Call Work

BLS says technicians may be on call for emergencies and sometimes work overtime or irregular schedules in peak heating and cooling seasons. Extra hours raise gross pay. They do not raise the base rate that BLS measures.

Training and Certification

BLS states that the Environmental Protection Agency requires nearly all HVAC technicians to be certified in refrigerant handling. BLS publishes no wage figures by certification, so the tool applies no certification bonus.

HVAC technicians earn slightly more than carpenters at the median and less than electricians and plumbers. The HVAC range is also the narrowest of the four, with a 90th percentile of $95,210.

BLS places HVAC technicians in installation, maintenance and repair occupations, not construction trades. The median for that group is $59,620, and the median for all occupations is $50,980. HVAC technicians have the fastest projected growth of the four trades.

Judging a First Job After Trade School

Enter the offered rate. A rate of $22.00 an hour sits near the 20th percentile, which helps you judge a starting rate.

Comparing a Service Role with an Install Role

Put one rate in the pay field and the other in the second offer. The tool shows the yearly gap and both percentiles.

Moving to a Salaried Position

A salary of $58,000 works out to $27.88 an hour at 40 hours. An offer of $64,500 is +11.2% more and moves the rate to about the 55th percentile.

Budgeting Around Busy Seasons

Average the overtime across the year, as in the example. The annual gross figure then matches what your pay stubs will add up to.

HVAC technicians typically need a postsecondary nondegree award. BLS says programs at trade schools and community colleges generally last from 6 months to 2 years. New hires then go through long-term on-the-job training.

BLS projects employment to grow 11 percent from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations. That adds 48,200 jobs for a total of 489,100.

About 40,600 openings are projected each year. BLS points to commercial construction, including data centers, to residential building and to the replacement of older climate-control systems.

Weighing a certificate against a degree? Try the trade school vs college calculator.

1. Entering Peak-Week Overtime as the Average

Ten overtime hours for 16 weeks is not ten hours all year. Average it first, or the annual figure will be far too high.

2. Adding On-Call Pay to the Base Rate

Standby pay is separate from the hourly rate, and BLS leaves it out. Keep the base rate clean for a fair percentile.

3. Expecting a Certification Premium in the Data

BLS reports one wage distribution for the whole occupation. It has no column for any credential.

4. Comparing with Construction Trade Averages

HVAC technicians sit in a different BLS group. Compare with this occupation, not with a general construction figure.

5. Counting Variable Pay as Guaranteed

Commission and bonuses change from month to month. Enter only the pay you can rely on.

6. Reading Gross Pay as Take-Home Pay

The tool stops at gross pay. Tax and deductions come out afterward.

The pay conversion is exact for steady hours, and the benchmark carries survey error. BLS lists a relative standard error of 0.5 percent for the mean wage and 1.3 percent for employment in this occupation.

HVAC technicians earned a median of $29.33 an hour in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 10th percentile was $19.25 and the 90th percentile was $45.78.

The mean annual wage was $64,780 in May 2025, and the median was $61,010. Both assume a full-time year of 2,080 hours at straight-time pay.

HVAC technicians earn more than the typical US worker. The median of $61,010 is 19.7 percent above the $50,980 median for all occupations.

The District of Columbia has the highest mean wage at $40.83 an hour, followed by Alaska, Washington, Massachusetts and New Jersey, in the BLS May 2025 data.

BLS does not publish wages by certification, so no official national premium exists. BLS does say employers may prefer or require specific certifications. This calculator applies no certification multiplier.

Thirty-five dollars an hour is above the national median of $29.33. It sits near the 68th percentile and equals $72,800.00 over a 2,080 hour year.

Enter hours you actually worked on call-outs as overtime hours, at the multiplier your employer pays. Leave out flat standby pay. BLS excludes on-call pay from its wages, so it should not be part of the rate you compare.

Yes. BLS code 49-9021 covers heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics and installers as one occupation. Home appliance repairers are a separate occupation.

BLS projects 11 percent employment growth from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 40,600 openings a year.

No. The BLS survey covers employees and leaves out the self-employed, who are 6 percent of HVAC technicians. Owner income depends on the business, not on an hourly wage.

• BLS OEWS Profiles, May 2025 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Choose May 2025 and select 49-9021 Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers for the national wage percentiles, mean wage, employment, and industry and state tables. Read 2026-10-02.
• BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Duties, entry education, training, median pay by industry and the 2025 to 2035 outlook. Read 2026-10-02.
• BLS OEWS frequently asked questions (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Defines wages as straight-time gross pay without overtime, the 2,080 hour year and who the survey covers. Read 2026-10-02.
• Overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division). Time and one-half the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek for covered, nonexempt employees. Read 2026-10-02.