1. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a heating technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.74 an hour? That's $51,453 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 13% and produce 46,300 job opportunities across the U.S.
Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers—often called HVACR technicians—work on heating, ventilation, cooling, and refrigeration systems that control the temperature and air quality in buildings.
Because HVACR systems have become increasingly complex, employers generally prefer applicants with postsecondary education or those who have completed an apprenticeship. Some states and localities require technicians to be licensed. Workers may need to pass a background check prior to being hired.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a heating technician can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as maintenance technician, progress to a title such as technician and then eventually end up with the title service manager.
What Am I Worth?
There are several types of heating technician, including:
To be a technician, you have to know your stuff. Some may refer to you as an expert in your field or maybe people will know you as skilled in an art or craft. Then again, you may just be needed to look after technical equipment.
Your workload as a technician will vary, depending on what you're trained in. You may be needed to set up a new computer system or maybe you'll need to fix an electricity problem. Either way, you'll probably only need to work 40 hours a week.
The degree of education required for this job depends on what you're specific skillset is. Some technicians only need a high school diploma, others may want to complete an associate's program or earn a certificate to help their employment opportunities. There's definitely something for everyone in the field of technicians.
A maintenance technician mainly focuses their time on making repairs to equipment and property structures. When the HVAC unit stops working on the hottest day of the year, the maintenance technicians are the ones who will be called on to save the day.
Generally, maintenance technicians only need a high school diploma to get by in their career, although higher positions in the maintenance technician field may require a two-year program of some sort.
You know how we said that maintenance technicians may be called upon in emergency situations? Well, that may mean you'll be working outside of your normal hours. For the most part, you'll work a normal, full-time schedule. But emergencies may get you out of bed or interrupt your weekend. Just be prepared for those emergencies.
As a service technician, you'll be coming home with a lot of grease on your hands. Unless, of course, you wash your hands before leaving work. Guess where all that grease comes from. Vehicles! That's right, you'll be inspecting and repairing cars, left and right.
Generally, you'll be working in a well-ventilated, well-lit garage of some sort. You'll need to be familiar with automotive issues in a car's computer system, such as figuring out why the check engine light is on. And you'll probably need to know how to change a tire or change the oil. But we're not telling you how to do your job.
Instead of getting your training from us, you should complete a program from a postsecondary institution. Again, not telling you what to do but rather what employers like to see. Once you have the job, you may need to go a step further by becoming certified.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active heating technician jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where heating technicians earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Texas | 1,955 | $44,224 |
2 | California | 1,917 | $63,066 |
3 | Florida | 1,842 | $42,842 |
4 | New York | 1,332 | $62,287 |
5 | Illinois | 1,197 | $57,243 |
6 | Georgia | 1,181 | $44,900 |
7 | North Carolina | 1,160 | $49,887 |
8 | Virginia | 983 | $59,817 |
9 | Pennsylvania | 981 | $60,553 |
10 | Ohio | 892 | $46,432 |
11 | New Jersey | 836 | $66,964 |
12 | Massachusetts | 810 | $75,878 |
13 | Iowa | 753 | $50,306 |
14 | Michigan | 738 | $54,504 |
15 | Tennessee | 733 | $36,508 |
16 | Indiana | 691 | $56,707 |
17 | Colorado | 663 | $54,793 |
18 | Arizona | 649 | $50,077 |
19 | Minnesota | 648 | $54,583 |
20 | Missouri | 585 | $54,676 |
21 | Maryland | 571 | $75,559 |
22 | South Carolina | 538 | $52,021 |
23 | Washington | 497 | $64,365 |
24 | Wisconsin | 497 | $50,027 |
25 | Oregon | 388 | $59,616 |
26 | Alabama | 365 | $43,040 |
27 | Connecticut | 358 | $76,252 |
28 | Kentucky | 331 | $45,645 |
29 | Utah | 325 | $49,139 |
30 | Nebraska | 297 | $47,884 |
31 | Oklahoma | 297 | $43,400 |
32 | Louisiana | 274 | $55,681 |
33 | Kansas | 254 | $48,663 |
34 | Arkansas | 237 | $39,056 |
35 | Maine | 231 | $54,808 |
36 | Mississippi | 230 | $43,609 |
37 | Nevada | 228 | $58,355 |
38 | New Hampshire | 185 | $64,748 |
39 | Delaware | 148 | $62,861 |
40 | West Virginia | 138 | $39,173 |
41 | New Mexico | 132 | $41,896 |
42 | South Dakota | 127 | $44,201 |
43 | Montana | 111 | $57,130 |
44 | Idaho | 109 | $52,303 |
45 | Alaska | 104 | $76,640 |
46 | Rhode Island | 102 | $63,382 |
47 | Vermont | 90 | $48,137 |
48 | North Dakota | 71 | $60,053 |
49 | Hawaii | 64 | $48,321 |
50 | Wyoming | 43 | $52,044 |
Durham, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
Lewisburg, PA • Private
In-State Tuition
$56,092
Enrollment
3,583
Troy, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,880
Enrollment
6,590
Raleigh, NC • Private
In-State Tuition
$9,101
Enrollment
23,708
Santa Clara, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,711
Enrollment
5,504
Randolph, VT • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,108
Enrollment
1,350
Fort Worth, TX • Private
In-State Tuition
$46,950
Enrollment
9,407
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 8.6% of heating technicians listed plumbing on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and detail oriented are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Heating Technician templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Heating Technician resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
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Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a heating technician. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maryland. Heating technicians make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $76,640. Whereas in Connecticut and Massachusetts, they would average $76,252 and $75,878, respectively. While heating technicians would only make an average of $75,559 in Maryland, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Connecticut
$76,252
Avg. Salary
2. Alaska
$76,640
Avg. Salary
3. New Hampshire
$64,748
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pentair | $64,881 | $31.19 | 2 |
2 | Superheat | $61,588 | $29.61 | 10 |
3 | Kellogg Elementary | $56,028 | $26.94 | 5 |
4 | Sears Holdings | $55,993 | $26.92 | 7 |
5 | IAF | $54,538 | $26.22 | 3 |
6 | Suarez Industries | $53,571 | $25.76 | 3 |
7 | Jabil | $53,284 | $25.62 | 3 |
8 | TEAM | $49,765 | $23.93 | 22 |
9 | USAF Police Alumni Association | $48,865 | $23.49 | 6 |
10 | US Air Conditioning Distributors | $48,132 | $23.14 | 11 |