How To Become An Emission Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is an emission technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an emission technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $20.08 an hour? That's $41,765 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 10,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreEmission TechnicianUS Average

Salary

3.3

Avg. Salary $41,765

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.7

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.80%

Asian 4.94%

Black or African American 9.47%

Hispanic or Latino 19.89%

Unknown 4.23%

White 60.66%

Gender

female 15.36%

male 84.64%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.2

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an emission technician

Explore emission technician education requirements

Most common emission technician degrees

Associate

31.1 %

Bachelor's

29.5 %

High School Diploma

27.3 %

Start to develop specific emission technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Ladders	15.83%
Test Results	13.91%
Air Emissions	10.15%
Test Equipment	9.40%
Federal Regulations	8.68%

Complete relevant emission technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New emission technicians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an emission technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real emission technician resumes.

Research emission technician duties and responsibilities

Manage daily repair activities for high-volume Honda repair facility.
Utilize SRI GC, MCA, PTS and Bioscan TLC.
Create AutoCAD drawings for various systems.
Utilize portable analyzers to detect VOC leaks from individual sources.

Prepare your emission technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your emission technician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an emission technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable emission technician resume templates

Build a professional emission technician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your emission technician resume.