What is a Hvac-R Technician?

This is a heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration system professional. An HVAC-R technician's duties are to install, repair, and maintain heating, air, and refrigeration systems. An HVAC-R technician must perform installations and perform diagnosis on HVAC-R equipment.

An HVAC-R technician works with the engineering and sales teams to ensure that products comply with service standards and meet the customers' requirements. Apart from the technical skills an HVAC-R technician is expected to possess, some additional skills are necessary.

Critical thinking ability: Must be able to brainstorm ideas and find solutions to problems. Effective time management skills: Ability to perform necessary tasks on time. Listening and speaking skills: Must be able to share his/her ideas and also receptive to opinions of others.

Physical strength: Must be able to lift and move equipment. Collaborative skills: Ability to work with the team and combine skills for effective performance.

As an HVAC-R technician, you can enjoy an annual average salary of $47,500. Salaries range from $24,000 to $74,000, depending on how buoyant the company is. The city location of the company is also a factor that influences the salary.

What Does a Hvac-R Technician Do

There are certain skills that many hvac-r technicians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed detail oriented, math skills and time-management skills.

Learn more about what a Hvac-R Technician does

How To Become a Hvac-R Technician

If you're interested in becoming a hvac-r technician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 10.5% of hvac-r technicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.8% of hvac-r technicians have master's degrees. Even though some hvac-r technicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Hvac-R Technician
Top Hvac-R Technician Jobs Near You

Hvac-R Technician Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of hvac technician you might progress to a role such as maintenance supervisor eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title service manager.

Hvac-R Technician

Average Salary for a Hvac-R Technician

Hvac-R Technicians in America make an average salary of $53,354 per year or $26 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $79,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $35,000 per year.
Average Hvac-R Technician Salary
$53,354 Yearly
$25.65 hourly
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Roles and Types of Hvac-R Technician

The role of a hvac-r technician includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general hvac-r technician responsibilities:

  • Assist workers engaged in installation, repair,
  • Complete multiple maintenance tasks on refrigeration
  • Assisting in servicing products and equipment on assigned projects

There are several types of hvac-r technician, including:

Technician

Role:

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.

  • Average Salary: $38,045
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Maintenance Technician

Role:

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.

  • Average Salary: $43,293
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Service Technician

Role:

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.

  • Average Salary: $40,379
  • Degree: Associate Degree
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States With The Most Hvac-R Technician Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active hvac-r technician jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where hvac-r technicians earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Hvac-R Technician Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California3,866$65,349
2Texas3,055$44,408
3Florida2,926$45,404
4Illinois2,055$58,537
5North Carolina1,895$49,129
6Georgia1,857$49,279
7New York1,803$66,998
8Ohio1,510$59,686
9Pennsylvania1,504$63,138
10Virginia1,468$65,270
11Massachusetts1,304$62,864
12Michigan1,256$55,679
13New Jersey1,255$67,527
14Indiana1,231$54,315
15Minnesota1,145$58,218
16Arizona1,107$52,512
17Colorado1,101$52,986
18Missouri1,009$54,552
19Iowa1,008$50,856
20Tennessee988$44,277
21Washington976$78,288
22Maryland941$66,032
23Wisconsin861$48,262
24South Carolina781$43,370
25Kentucky627$46,103
26Alabama622$43,046
27Oregon550$62,721
28Connecticut525$74,906
29Utah495$50,712
30Louisiana478$46,207
31Nebraska462$47,851
32Kansas461$48,321
33Arkansas394$38,828
34Oklahoma391$47,170
35Mississippi375$43,424
36Nevada355$58,134
37New Hampshire303$61,694
38Maine300$55,565
39Delaware223$61,073
40New Mexico212$41,461
41West Virginia193$39,873
42Idaho174$52,723
43Montana166$57,522
44Alaska155$76,388
45South Dakota153$44,724
46Rhode Island128$63,784
47Vermont124$48,451
48North Dakota113$61,343
49Hawaii109$47,219
50Wyoming57$52,001

Hvac-R Technician Education

Hvac-R Technician Majors

Heating And Air Conditioning
29.6 %
Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians
23.3 %
Electrical Engineering Technology
9.3 %

Hvac-R Technician Degrees

Associate

33.5 %

Diploma

20.4 %

High School Diploma

17.3 %

Top Colleges for Hvac-R Technicians

1. Dunwoody College of Technology

Minneapolis, MN • Private

In-State Tuition

$22,046

Enrollment

1,294

2. SUNY College of Technology at Alfred

Alfred, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,570

Enrollment

3,721

3. Northern Michigan University

Marquette, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$10,729

Enrollment

6,722

4. New Mexico State University

Las Cruces, NM • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,686

Enrollment

11,139

5. Eastern New Mexico University

Portales, NM • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,326

Enrollment

3,347

6. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,695

Enrollment

6,596

7. University of Alaska Anchorage

Anchorage, AK • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,580

Enrollment

10,482

8. SUNY College of Technology at Canton

Canton, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,389

Enrollment

3,127

9. Bucknell University

Lewisburg, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,092

Enrollment

3,583

10. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Troy, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,880

Enrollment

6,590

Top Skills For a Hvac-R Technician

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, 10.8% of hvac-r technicians listed hvac/r on their resume, but soft skills such as detail oriented and math skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Hvac-R Technician Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Hvac-R Technician templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Hvac-R Technician resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Hvac-R Technician diversity

Hvac-R Technician Gender Distribution

Male
Male
97%
Female
Female
3%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among hvac-r technicians, 2.6% of them are women, while 97.4% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among hvac-r technicians is White, which makes up 65.1% of all hvac-r technicians.

  • The most common foreign language among hvac-r technicians is Carrier at 43.8%.

Online Courses For Hvac-R Technician That You May Like

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1. R Programming

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2. Data Visualization with R

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In this course, you will learn the Grammar of Graphics, a system for describing and building graphs, and how the ggplot2 data visualization package for R applies this concept to basic bar charts, histograms, pie charts, scatter plots, line plots, and box plots. You will also learn how to further customize your charts and plots using themes and other techniques. You will then learn how to use another data visualization package for R called Leaflet to create map plots, a unique way to plot data...

3. HVAC Fundamentals and BMS Controls

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Build your knowledge systematically, from the working principles of HVAC to optimizing a chiller plant operation...

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Best States For a Hvac-R Technician

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a hvac-r technician. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Alaska, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Hvac-r technicians make the most in Washington with an average salary of $78,288. Whereas in Alaska and Connecticut, they would average $76,388 and $74,906, respectively. While hvac-r technicians would only make an average of $67,527 in New Jersey, 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. Alaska

Total Hvac-R Technician Jobs: 155
Highest 10% Earn:
$88,000
Location Quotient:
1.17

$76,388

Avg. Salary

View 155 Hvac-R Technician Jobs In AK

2. Connecticut

Total Hvac-R Technician Jobs: 525
Highest 10% Earn:
$118,000
Location Quotient:
1

$74,906

Avg. Salary

View 525 Hvac-R Technician Jobs In CT

3. New Jersey

Total Hvac-R Technician Jobs: 1,255
Highest 10% Earn:
$107,000
Location Quotient:
1

$67,527

Avg. Salary

View 1,255 Hvac-R Technician Jobs In NJ
Full List Of Best States For Hvac-R Technicians

How Do Hvac-R Technicians Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Hvac-R Technician Employers

Most Common Employers For Hvac-R Technician

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Four Seasons$76,640$36.858
2Walmart$62,477$30.0420
3Weatherford International$57,244$27.529
4Sears Holdings$56,629$27.2322
5Remco$55,501$26.685
6Mayo Clinic$51,948$24.985
7KBR$51,837$24.924
8USAF Police Alumni Association$51,327$24.6827
9TDI$51,240$24.634
10Air National Guard$50,462$24.266
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Hvac-R Technician Videos

A Day in the Life of an HVAC Tech.
Another Day in the Life of an HVAC Technician
Job Shadowing: HVAC Technician-Intern Partnership, A Day in the Life of a HVAC Technician

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Updated April 6, 2023