What Trade Makes the Most Money: 12 Trades Ranked by BLS Pay
By Mustafa Tarabya, founder of CVBooster · Published · Updated
6 min read
Elevator and escalator installer is the trade that makes the most money in the United States, with a median annual wage of $109,910 in May 2025 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, followed by electrical power-line installer at $95,320. The one constraint is the word median: half the workers in each trade earn more and half earn less, and pay moves with region, union status and overtime. The figures below come from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Twelve trades are ranked, each with the route in, plus six resume examples. Written by Mustafa Tarabya, who hired for his own company, read every application himself and now writes CVBooster's guides.
The top-paid trade in the country spends its days inside an elevator shaft. Your school counselor did not mention elevator shafts. The list below mentions them first.
A resume for the top-paid trade
Elevator apprenticeships are competitive, so the application has to show mechanical aptitude, safety habits and reliability before any elevator experience exists.
Entry level: resume summary and experience for an elevator apprentice applicant (105 words)
Summary Mechanically minded applicant for an elevator mechanic apprenticeship, with two years of commercial maintenance work, an OSHA 10 card and a clean driving record. Comfortable at heights and in confined spaces, and used to working under lockout/tagout rules.
Experience Maintenance Technician, Riverside Office Park, Columbus, OH | 2024 to present - Maintain HVAC filters, door hardware, lighting and plumbing across four office buildings - Follow lockout/tagout on every electrical job and log each one in the work order system - Assist the elevator contractor during quarterly inspections: access, logs and building notices
Training OSHA 10-Hour Construction | Introductory electrical course, Columbus State Community College
The last bullet is the one that gets read: it shows the applicant has stood next to the work and knows what the job looks like.
The 12 highest paying trades, ranked
Median pay figures are the BLS Quick Facts values for 2025, from each occupation's Handbook page.
- Elevator and escalator installers and repairers: $109,910 a year. BLS: "The median annual wage for elevator and escalator installers and repairers was $109,910 in May 2025." Route: high school diploma and an apprenticeship.
- Electrical power-line installers and repairers: $95,320 a year for the power-line specialty, per the BLS line installers page. Route: high school diploma and long-term on-the-job training.
- Aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and technicians: $80,180 a year. Route: a postsecondary nondegree award, typically an FAA-approved maintenance school.
- Boilermakers: $76,410 a year. Route: high school diploma and an apprenticeship.
- Construction and building inspectors: $74,690 a year. Route: high school diploma, trade experience and moderate-term on-the-job training.
- Millwrights: $65,700 a year (May 2025). Route: high school diploma and on-the-job training or an apprenticeship.
- Wind turbine technicians: $64,120 a year. Route: a postsecondary nondegree award.
- Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters: $63,800 a year. Route: high school diploma and an apprenticeship.
- Electricians: $63,190 a year. Route: high school diploma and an apprenticeship.
- Ironworkers: $61,910 a year. Route: high school diploma and an apprenticeship.
- Sheet metal workers: $61,800 a year.
- HVAC and refrigeration mechanics and installers: $61,010 a year. Route: a postsecondary nondegree award and long-term on-the-job training.
Carpenters ($60,580) sit just below the list in the same BLS table.
How to get into a high paying trade
Most of the top trades start with a registered apprenticeship: paid work with a journey-level worker plus classroom hours, ending in a recognized credential. The U.S. Department of Labor's Apprenticeship.gov lists registered programs by trade and location. Union locals, contractor associations and community colleges run many of them.
Three trades on the list take a school route instead: aircraft mechanics, wind turbine technicians and HVAC technicians usually start with a postsecondary certificate. Inspectors usually come from years in a trade first.
Resume example: power-line installer
Mid level: resume experience for a journeyman lineworker (79 words)
Journeyman Lineworker, Midwest Electric Cooperative, Springfield, IL | 2021 to present - Build and maintain overhead distribution lines up to 25 kV for a rural cooperative - Respond to storm outages on rotating call-out, including multi-day mutual aid deployments - Climb poles and operate bucket trucks and digger derricks under the co-op's safety program - Mentor two apprentices through their pole-climbing and rigging modules
Credentials: Completed lineworker apprenticeship, 2021 | CDL Class A | First aid and CPR
Resume example: aircraft mechanic
Mid level: resume summary for an aircraft maintenance technician (77 words)
Summary FAA-certificated Airframe and Powerplant mechanic with five years on regional jet line maintenance. Performs scheduled checks, troubleshooting and component changes, and completes maintenance records to company and FAA standards. Holds a current A&P certificate and an airline ground operations badge.
Experience Aircraft Maintenance Technician, Great Lakes Regional Airline, Detroit, MI | 2021 to present - Perform overnight A-checks and defect rectification on CRJ900 aircraft - Complete maintenance logbook entries and parts traceability on every task card
Resume example: boilermaker
Experienced: resume experience for a journeyman boilermaker (67 words)
Journeyman Boilermaker, union dispatch to power and refinery outages | 2016 to present - Repair and replace boiler tubes, drums and pressure vessels during planned outages - Rig and set heavy components with crane crews, following lift plans and permits - Weld to code on pressure work; hold current certifications for SMAW and GTAW - Work rotating 12-hour shifts on outage schedules in Texas and Louisiana
Resume example: construction and building inspector
Senior: resume summary for a building inspector moving from the trades (44 words)
Summary Building inspector with fifteen years as a licensed electrician before moving into inspection. Inspects residential and light commercial projects for code compliance, issues corrections and approvals, and explains requirements to contractors in plain terms. Holds ICC Residential Building Inspector and Electrical Inspector certifications.
Resume example: apprentice electrician
Entry level: resume for an electrician apprenticeship applicant (69 words)
Summary High school graduate applying for an electrical apprenticeship. Completed two years of vocational electrical classes, wired practice panels and passed the program's safety assessment. Holds a driver's license and reliable transportation.
Experience Warehouse Associate (part time), Midwest Fulfillment, Indianapolis, IN | 2025 to present - Load and unload trailers safely and on time during early-morning shifts
Education Arsenal Technical High School, Indianapolis | Electrical career program, 2025
What changes the pay inside a trade
- Region. BLS pages include state and metro pay maps; the same trade can pay very differently across states.
- Union and contract work. Many high-paying trade jobs are dispatched through union locals with set wage scales.
- Overtime and travel. Outage, storm and shutdown work pays heavily in overtime, and the median does not show it.
- License level. Apprentice, journeyman and master earn on different scales.
For the full list of trade-adjacent careers with short training, see our guides to short careers that pay well and the best paying non degree jobs. If you are in Australia, our well paid trades in Australia page ranks the trades by Australian data. When you apply, CVBooster checks your resume against the posting: filling any of the 99 templates is free after you sign in, with the ATS score and gap list; the PDF and Word download is Pro.
Frequently asked questions
What trade makes the most money?
Elevator and escalator installers and repairers have the highest median pay of the skilled trades in the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: $109,910 a year in May 2025. Electrical power-line installers follow at $95,320, then aircraft and avionics mechanics at $80,180. Pay varies by region, union status and overtime.
What is the highest paying trade without a degree?
Elevator and escalator installer, which BLS lists with a high school diploma as typical entry education and an apprenticeship for training. Power-line installers, boilermakers and electricians also start with a high school diploma and on-the-job training or an apprenticeship rather than a degree.
Which trade is the easiest to get into that pays well?
There is no easy route to the top-paid trades, because the best paid apprenticeships are competitive. Trades with a short school route, such as HVAC and wind turbine technician, let you start with a certificate rather than waiting for an apprenticeship opening, and both have median pay above $60,000 in BLS data.
How long does it take to become an elevator mechanic?
Most elevator mechanics train through a multi-year apprenticeship that combines paid work with classroom instruction, and BLS lists apprenticeship as the typical training. Programs are often run by union locals and contractors; check Apprenticeship.gov and local elevator constructors' unions for openings and application windows in your area.
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