Washington is the #9 highest paying state for plumbers, HVAC technicians, and electricians

The United States is currently in the throes of a skilled trades worker shortage. Across the board, the country doesn’t have enough qualified electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and carpenters to meet the demand. One recent study found that many of the most in-demand jobs remain unfilled for at least a month. This comes as millions of Americans who were laid off during the early days of the coronavirus are looking for work.

That being said, not all job markets are the same. While it should be fairly easy to find work in all 50 states, how much that work pays is different depending on the state. To find the states where home service workers are paid the most, ServiceTitan analyzed June 2020 data from Payscale. The average salary of a home service worker was calculated by averaging the pay of entry-, intermediate-, and senior-level workers in each state. HVAC technicians, plumbers, and electricians were all included in the dataset, which can be seen nationally here.

Washington by the numbers

- Average yearly salary: $57,067 ($27.44 hourly)
--- Plumbers: $55,800 ($26.83 hourly)
--- Plumber pay increase from entry to senior level: $14,400 ($6.92 hourly)
--- HVAC technician: $56,767 ($27.29 hourly)
--- HVAC technician pay increase from entry to senior level: $17,100 ($8.22 hourly)
--- Electrician: $58,633 ($28.19 hourly)
--- Electrician pay increase from entry to senior level: $17,500 ($8.41 hourly)

In Washington, in particular, tradespeople earn higher salaries because of massive worker shortages. One plumbing company owner told a local news station that finding qualified, able employees has gotten more difficult since the onset of the coronavirus despite the fact that his company provides on-the-job training and requires no previous work experience. Plumbers aren’t the only home service professionals who fare well in the state, either: the U.S. Department of Labor projects that HVAC technician jobs will increase by 15.6%, or 1,130 openings each year, over the next decade.

While the cost of living in the state is in the top 20 in the nation, HVAC technicians in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area are the seventh-highest paid of any metropolitan area in the U.S. and electricians in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes area are the fourth-highest paid. Mukilteo, Everet, and Tacoma are particularly good places for HVAC technicians, as demonstrated by their higher-than-average hourly wages, which are well above $30. Similarly, Kent and Renton, Washington, are offering over $40 an hour for electricians, with the ability to earn up to $10,000 a year in overtime.

Check the statistics below to discover where your talents are valued the most and least, and to get a better handle on whether or not making a move for your career would be worth it.

States that pay home service workers the most

#1. Alaska: $61,156 average yearly salary ($29.40 hourly)
#2. Massachusetts: $59,700 average yearly salary ($28.70 hourly)
#3. California: $59,511 average yearly salary ($28.61 hourly)

States that pay home service workers the least

#1. Arkansas: $47,944 average yearly salary ($23.05 hourly)
#2. West Virginia: $48,178 average yearly salary ($23.16 hourly)
#3. Idaho: $49,433 average yearly salary ($23.77 hourly)

This story originally appeared on ServiceTitan and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.