Trade schools
Trade schools by state
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard data · Updated October 17, 2026
1,129 colleges, universities and trade schools reported 2,936 electrician, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), plumbing and construction programs with graduates in the latest two reported years. Pick your state to see each program's graduates, their typical pay a year and four years after finishing, and what a year at the school costs after grants.
Pick your state
- Alabama (40)
- Alaska (17)
- Arizona (66)
- Arkansas (47)
- California (259)
- Colorado (52)
- Connecticut (17)
- Delaware (7)
- District of Columbia (1)
- Florida (143)
- Georgia (106)
- Hawaii (19)
- Idaho (15)
- Illinois (121)
- Indiana (26)
- Iowa (58)
- Kansas (77)
- Kentucky (71)
- Louisiana (48)
- Maine (37)
- Maryland (21)
- Massachusetts (20)
- Michigan (92)
- Minnesota (92)
- Mississippi (73)
- Missouri (55)
- Montana (18)
- Nebraska (42)
- Nevada (25)
- New Hampshire (7)
- New Jersey (39)
- New Mexico (32)
- New York (63)
- North Carolina (181)
- North Dakota (18)
- Ohio (101)
- Oklahoma (85)
- Oregon (34)
- Pennsylvania (106)
- Rhode Island (6)
- South Carolina (44)
- South Dakota (26)
- Tennessee (74)
- Texas (181)
- Utah (42)
- Vermont (3)
- Virginia (58)
- Washington (64)
- West Virginia (22)
- Wisconsin (70)
- Wyoming (15)
The number is how many programs in that state are listed.
What graduates earn, nationally
Typical (median) yearly pay of graduates nationwide, by field and credential. Figures cover graduates who got federal student aid and were working and not back in school.
| Program | Programs | Graduates 2023–24 | Typical pay 1 year after | Typical pay 4 years after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate | 522 | 29,912 | $44,469 | $53,078 |
| Associate degree | 221 | 3,941 | $55,611 | $70,808 |
| Program | Programs | Graduates 2023–24 | Typical pay 1 year after | Typical pay 4 years after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate | 578 | 20,731 | $42,278 | $48,148 |
| Associate degree | 229 | 2,239 | $48,589 | $58,236 |
| Program | Programs | Graduates 2023–24 | Typical pay 1 year after | Typical pay 4 years after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certificate | 154 | 2,948 | $41,980 | $49,996 |
| Associate degree | 30 | 345 | $59,151 | — |
| Program | Programs | Graduates 2023–24 | Typical pay 1 year after | Typical pay 4 years after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CertificateConstruction Trades, General | 63 | 2,236 | $39,348 | $41,529 |
| Associate degreeConstruction Trades, General | 45 | 510 | $74,049 | $83,283 |
| CertificateCarpenters | 214 | 4,815 | $35,931 | $41,835 |
| Associate degreeCarpenters | 60 | 478 | $39,626 | $47,382 |
| CertificateBuilding/Construction Finishing, Management, and Inspection | 282 | 4,963 | $35,572 | $42,012 |
| Associate degreeBuilding/Construction Finishing, Management, and Inspection | 173 | 1,538 | $52,746 | $59,378 |
| Bachelor's degreeBuilding/Construction Finishing, Management, and Inspection | 8 | 243 | $75,419 | — |
| CertificateConstruction Engineering Technology/Technician | 56 | 690 | $51,213 | $57,671 |
| Associate degreeConstruction Engineering Technology/Technician | 71 | 774 | $60,261 | $71,367 |
| Bachelor's degreeConstruction Engineering Technology/Technician | 61 | 2,893 | $77,872 | $93,843 |
| CertificateConstruction Management | 35 | 405 | $59,911 | — |
| Associate degreeConstruction Management | 51 | 500 | $58,990 | $72,110 |
| Bachelor's degreeConstruction Management | 83 | 2,919 | $75,379 | $95,124 |
How to read these numbers
- Where they come from: the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard. Schools report their programs and graduates; the pay figures come from federal tax records.
- Graduates: the number of certificates or degrees the school reported awarding in that field in the 2023–24 school year. Programs with no graduates in the two latest reported years (2022–23 and 2023–24) are left out.
- Typical pay: the median yearly earnings (wages plus self-employment income) of graduates who were working and not back in school. The 1-year figure is for people who finished in 2020–21 or 2021–22; the 4-year figure is for people who finished in 2017–18 or 2018–19. Both are in 2024 dollars.
- Who's counted: only graduates who got federal student aid (federal grants or student loans). Graduates who didn't get federal aid aren't in the figures, so the numbers may not describe every graduate.
- A dash (—) means the Department didn't publish a figure. For pay, that's usually because too few graduates were measured, so the figure is withheld to protect their privacy. Most small programs have no pay figure.
- Yearly cost after grants: the school's average net price: a year's tuition, fees, books and living costs, minus the average grant and scholarship aid, for full-time students starting college for the first time who got federal aid (at public schools, only students paying in-state tuition). At most colleges it's an average across all programs, not the one listed; at schools that enroll students year-round instead of by semester, it's for the school's largest program, and for a program shorter than a year it's the cost of the whole program. A school's own net price calculator, if it has one, gives a closer estimate.
- Program names follow the federal list of fields of study. "Electrical" includes power line worker programs; "construction" includes general construction trades, carpentry, building finishing and inspection, construction technology and construction management.
Sources (3)
- College Scorecard data (field of study and institution files, through the College Scorecard API), U.S. Department of Education. Data as of October 17, 2026.
- Technical documentation: field of study data, U.S. Department of Education, October 2026 version.
- College Scorecard data dictionary, U.S. Department of Education.