# HighPayingTrades.com

> Skilled trades with $65k+ average pay: every listed trade has a BLS OEWS May 2025 national annual mean wage (“average pay”, all experience levels, not starting pay) of at least $65,000. Medians are labeled as medians; “entry-level / bottom 10%” is the BLS 10th percentile. With listed schools and registered apprenticeship sponsors. All numbers are generated from public federal data (BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates, released 2026-05-15; O*NET; DOL Office of Apprenticeship; NCES IPEDS 2023-24 completions; College Scorecard tuition). Maintained by the HighPayingTrades team. Data refreshed 2026-11-03.

## Average pay $65k+ (all experience levels)
- [Elevator Mechanic](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/elevator-mechanic/): SOC 47-4021, O*NET 47-4021.00; U.S. average pay $109,820 (mean, all experience levels), median $109,910, entry-level / bottom 10% $59,270, top 10% $158,890, employment 23,790; 128 listed programs in 38 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/elevator-mechanic.json
- [Lineworker](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/lineworker/): SOC 49-9051, O*NET 49-9051.00; U.S. average pay $91,970 (mean, all experience levels), median $95,320, entry-level / bottom 10% $51,470, top 10% $128,690, employment 131,070; 376 listed programs in 43 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/lineworker.json
- [Refinery & Process Operator](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/process-operator/): SOC 51-8093, O*NET 51-8093.00; U.S. average pay $90,630 (mean, all experience levels), median $96,710, entry-level / bottom 10% $57,110, top 10% $115,880, employment 33,160; 209 listed programs in 36 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/process-operator.json
- [Aircraft Mechanic](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/aircraft-mechanic/): SOC 49-3011, O*NET 49-3011.00; U.S. average pay $84,740 (mean, all experience levels), median $79,870, entry-level / bottom 10% $48,780, top 10% $128,890, employment 138,090; 499 listed programs in 48 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/aircraft-mechanic.json
- [Electrical & Electronic Engineering Technician](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/electrical-engineering-technician/): SOC 17-3023, O*NET 17-3023.00; U.S. average pay $80,680 (mean, all experience levels), median $78,190, entry-level / bottom 10% $49,510, top 10% $115,700, employment 95,130; 662 listed programs in 47 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/electrical-engineering-technician.json
- [Industrial Automation Technician](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/industrial-automation-technician/): SOC 17-3024, O*NET 17-3024.00; U.S. average pay $76,420 (mean, all experience levels), median $73,900, entry-level / bottom 10% $47,840, top 10% $109,890, employment 15,520; 663 listed programs in 49 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/industrial-automation-technician.json
- [Industrial Electronics Technician](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/industrial-electronics-technician/): SOC 49-2094, O*NET 49-2094.00; U.S. average pay $75,570 (mean, all experience levels), median $74,090, entry-level / bottom 10% $46,840, top 10% $105,590, employment 65,010; 222 listed programs in 32 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/industrial-electronics-technician.json
- [Pipefitter & Steamfitter](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/pipefitter/): SOC 47-2152, O*NET 47-2152.00; U.S. average pay $72,170 (mean, all experience levels), median $63,800, entry-level / bottom 10% $44,150, top 10% $108,420, employment 465,840; 509 listed programs in 50 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/pipefitter.json
- [Crane Operator](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/crane-operator/): SOC 53-7021, O*NET 53-7021.00; U.S. average pay $72,130 (mean, all experience levels), median $68,080, entry-level / bottom 10% $42,640, top 10% $103,570, employment 42,890; 35 listed programs in 19 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/crane-operator.json
- [Electrician](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/electrician/): SOC 47-2111, O*NET 47-2111.00; U.S. average pay $71,490 (mean, all experience levels), median $63,190, entry-level / bottom 10% $42,640, top 10% $108,510, employment 757,220; 1346 listed programs in 52 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/electrician.json
- [Operating Engineer](https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/operating-engineer/): SOC 47-2073, O*NET 47-2073.00; U.S. average pay $66,290 (mean, all experience levels), median $59,850, entry-level / bottom 10% $42,190, top 10% $101,090, employment 478,090; 184 listed programs in 45 states. JSON: https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades/operating-engineer.json

## Data
- [llms-full.txt](https://highpayingtrades.com/llms-full.txt): the full dataset as Markdown (every trade, wage percentiles, program counts by state, sources)
- [API documentation](https://highpayingtrades.com/api/)
- [All trades JSON](https://highpayingtrades.com/api/trades.json)
- [Programs query](https://highpayingtrades.com/api/programs?trade=elevator-mechanic&state=TX)
- [trades.csv](https://highpayingtrades.com/data/trades.csv): one row per trade (average, median, entry-level / bottom 10%, top 10%, program counts)
- [programs.csv](https://highpayingtrades.com/data/programs.csv): every listed program with graduates 2023-24 (IPEDS), tuition and source

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- [Methodology](https://highpayingtrades.com/about/)
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## Notes
- School programs come from NCES IPEDS 2023-24 completions matched by 6-digit CIP code; graduates = first-major awards July 2023 to June 2024.
- CSV files are UTF-8 with a header row; wages are annual U.S. dollars.
- Tuition appears only where College Scorecard publishes it; otherwise "Contact program". Program listings are matched from public files and are not endorsements.
- Excluded after checking: welders (SOC 51-4121: average $56,760 across all experience levels, median $53,750, 90th percentile $77,530).
- Every HTML page has a Markdown version at the same URL plus index.md (for example https://highpayingtrades.com/trades/elevator-mechanic/index.md); Markdown copies are noindex and point to the HTML canonical.