Last reviewed: October 2026 · By the HVAC Brief Editorial Team · Our sourcing and editorial standards
This report describes who works in HVAC: sex, age, race and Hispanic ethnicity of heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers (SOC 49-9021), from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey (CPS), 2015 to 2025, and of students completing HVAC programs, from the Department of Education’s IPEDS completions survey. Pay and headcount by state are in our salary by state and per capita reports.
Two findings run against the usual story. The HVAC workforce is not aging: its median age fell from 40.9 in 2015 to 39.9 in 2025, and it is younger than the US workforce as a whole. And women, while still rare, have grown from 1.7 percent to 2.7 percent of the trade, and are a larger share of new program completers than of working technicians.
Executive summary
The CPS counted 561,000 employed HVAC mechanics and installers in 2025 annual averages, including the self-employed, up from 408,000 in 2015 (+38 percent). Women were 2.7 percent, about 15,000 people. 26.7 percent were Hispanic or Latino, 10.4 percent Black, 4.4 percent Asian and 80.9 percent white (race categories overlap with Hispanic ethnicity).
The median HVAC technician is 39.9 years old, against 42.1 for all employed people. 18.7 percent are 55 or older, compared with 23.2 percent of all workers, and 40.3 percent are under 35. Since 2015, the median age has fallen by a year and the under-35 share has risen from 38.7 to 40.3 percent.
Women’s share has risen from 1.7 percent in 2015 to 2.7 percent in 2025, the highest in the series, though annual CPS estimates for an occupation this size move by several tenths of a point from sampling alone. In HVAC training programs, women earned 3.7 percent of the 23,251 credentials awarded in 2023-24, up from 2.4 percent in 2014-15.
Hispanic workers account for the largest share of the trade’s growth. Their share rose from 21.6 to 26.7 percent, meaning about 150,000 Hispanic HVAC technicians in 2025. HVAC is less Hispanic than roofing (64.7%) and plumbing (30.3%), and more than the workforce overall (20%).
Key findings
- Women: 2.7 percent of HVAC technicians in 2025, about 15,000 workers (BLS CPS).
- Women’s share in 2015: 1.7 percent. HVAC has a higher female share than roofers (0.9%) and lower than electricians (3.5%) and plumbers (3.1%).
- Women earned 855 of 23,251 HVAC program credentials (3.7%) in 2023-24 (IPEDS).
- Median age: 39.9 years (all workers 42.1); down from 40.9 in 2015.
- Age 55 and over: 18.7 percent of HVAC technicians versus 23.2 percent of all workers.
- Under 35: 40.3 percent of HVAC technicians, up from 38.7 percent in 2015.
- For every HVAC technician aged 55 or older there are 1.5 aged 25 to 34 (HVAC Brief calculation).
- Hispanic or Latino: 26.7 percent in 2025, up from 21.6 percent in 2015.
- Black: 10.4 percent in 2025, up from 7.6 percent in 2015, and 18.1 percent of 2023-24 HVAC program completers.
- Asian: 4.4 percent in 2025, up from 2.2 percent.
- Employment in the occupation grew 38 percent from 2015 to 2025, from 408,000 to 561,000 (CPS).
Women in HVAC
Women held 2.7 percent of HVAC technician jobs in 2025, according to CPS annual averages. On 561,000 employed, that is roughly 15,000 women. The share was 1.7 percent in 2015 and stayed between 1.4 and 2.0 percent through 2021 before rising to 2.3 percent in 2022 and 2.7 percent in 2025.
2023 and 2024 tables were not retrievable for this report and are omitted. Source: BLS CPS Table 11.
Women’s share remains far below their 47.1 percent of all employment. Among the construction and installation trades it is typical: HVAC sits between roofers (0.9%) and electricians (3.5%). The pipeline is slightly more female than the workforce. Women earned 3.7 percent of HVAC credentials in 2023-24 (855 of 23,251), up from 2.4 percent in 2014-15. If completers stay in the trade at the same rate as men, the workforce share will keep rising slowly.
Age of HVAC technicians
| Age group | 2015 | 2015 share | 2025 | 2025 share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 to 19 | 3 | 0.7% | 12 | 2.1% |
| 20 to 24 | 40 | 9.8% | 55 | 9.8% |
| 25 to 34 | 115 | 28.2% | 159 | 28.3% |
| 35 to 44 | 92 | 22.5% | 135 | 24.1% |
| 45 to 54 | 88 | 21.6% | 95 | 16.9% |
| 55 to 64 | 61 | 15.0% | 77 | 13.7% |
| 65 and over | 9 | 2.2% | 28 | 5.0% |
| Median age | 40.9 | 39.9 |
The largest age group is 25 to 34, with 159,000 technicians (28 percent). The 55 and older group is 105,000. That shape is younger than the workforce overall, where 23.2 percent are 55 or older, and about the same as plumbers (18.4%). It is older than roofing, which has the youngest workforce of the four trades (median 36.6).
| Occupation | Median age | Under 35 | 35 to 54 | 55 and over | 65 and over |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC mechanics and installers | 39.9 | 40.3% | 41.0% | 18.7% | 5.0% |
| Electricians | 39.6 | 40.3% | 41.7% | 18.0% | 3.3% |
| Plumbers, pipefitters, steamfitters | 40.2 | 38.3% | 43.3% | 18.4% | 4.3% |
| Roofers | 36.6 | 47.1% | 40.5% | 12.4% | 4.2% |
| All employed | 42.1 | 34.4% | 42.4% | 23.2% | 7.0% |
Race and Hispanic ethnicity
CPS reports race (white, Black, Asian) and Hispanic ethnicity separately; Hispanic workers can be of any race, so the columns do not sum to 100. In 2025, 80.9 percent of HVAC technicians were white, 10.4 percent Black, 4.4 percent Asian and 26.7 percent Hispanic or Latino.
| Year | Employed (thousands) | Women | White | Black | Asian | Hispanic or Latino |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 408 | 1.7% | – | 7.6% | 2.2% | 21.6% |
| 2016 | 427 | 1.4% | – | 7% | 1.3% | 21.9% |
| 2017 | 448 | 2% | 90.6% | 5.4% | 2.4% | 17.9% |
| 2018 | 472 | 1.4% | 86.4% | 7.6% | 2.9% | 21.5% |
| 2019 | 466 | 1.5% | 84% | 9.1% | 3% | 20.2% |
| 2020 | 450 | 1.5% | 81.5% | 12.1% | 3.1% | 21.7% |
| 2021 | 445 | 1.5% | 82% | 11.1% | 3.4% | 25.3% |
| 2022 | 472 | 2.3% | 86% | 10.2% | 1.6% | 22.4% |
| 2025 | 561 | 2.7% | 80.9% | 10.4% | 4.4% | 26.7% |
The white column is missing for 2015 and 2016 because the published table format did not include it in those years. The Black share has risen from 7.6 percent to 10.4 percent, close to the 12.7 percent share of all employment, which sets HVAC apart from roofing (4.2%) and plumbing (7.1%).
| Occupation | Employed (thousands) | Women | White | Black | Asian | Hispanic or Latino |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC mechanics and installers | 561 | 2.7% | 80.9% | 10.4% | 4.4% | 26.7% |
| Electricians | 1,063 | 3.5% | 82.8% | 9.3% | 3% | 25% |
| Plumbers, pipefitters, steamfitters | 624 | 3.1% | 86.5% | 7.1% | 2.8% | 30.3% |
| Roofers | 259 | 0.9% | 87% | 4.2% | 0.4% | 64.7% |
| All employed | 163,493 | 47.1% | 75.7% | 12.7% | 7.5% | 20% |
Who is training for HVAC
IPEDS covers every postsecondary institution that participates in federal student aid. In the 2023-24 academic year, institutions awarded 23,251 first-major credentials in heating, air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration maintenance technology (CIP 47.0201), mostly certificates of under two years. Our training programs by school report ranks the schools.
| Measure | 2014-15 | 2023-24 |
|---|---|---|
| Total credentials | 18,219 | 23,251 |
| Women | 2.4% | 3.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 15.7% | 25.3% |
| Black | 22.7% | 18.1% |
| White (non-Hispanic) | 53.7% | 40.6% |
| Asian | 2.2% | 2.6% |
Completers are more diverse than the workforce. Black students earned 18.1 percent of HVAC credentials, well above their 10.4 percent share of working technicians, and Hispanic students 25.3 percent. IPEDS race categories are mutually exclusive and include a race-unknown group, so they are not directly comparable to CPS shares, and the falling white share partly reflects growth in unknown and multiracial reporting.
Trends across the trades
HVAC is not alone in getting younger. Electricians’ median age fell from 41.6 to 39.6 over the same decade, and plumbers’ from 41 in 2020 to 40.2. The construction and installation trades as a group have recruited younger workers since the late 2010s, while the overall workforce median has stayed near 42.
| Occupation | 2015 | 2020 | 2022 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC mechanics and installers | 40.9 | 41.2 | 40.7 | 39.9 | -1.0 |
| Electricians | 41.6 | 41.7 | 40.8 | 39.6 | -2.0 |
| Plumbers, pipefitters, steamfitters | – | 41 | 40.8 | 40.2 | -0.8 |
| Roofers | 37.5 | 36 | 38.3 | 36.6 | -0.9 |
| All employed | 42.3 | 42.5 | 42.3 | 42.1 | -0.2 |
Women’s share has risen in HVAC and among electricians. The roofing series swings from under 1 percent to 5 percent between years, which shows how noisy CPS estimates are for a small occupation; for HVAC, movements of a few tenths of a point are within sampling error, and the decade trend is the reliable signal. The Change column in the median-age table measures from the earliest year shown for each trade.
| Year | HVAC mechanics and installers | Electricians | Plumbers, pipefitters, steamfitters | Roofers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1.7% | 2.3% | – | 2.3% |
| 2016 | 1.4% | 3% | – | 1.7% |
| 2017 | 2% | 2.5% | – | 0.6% |
| 2018 | 1.4% | 2.4% | – | 2.6% |
| 2019 | 1.5% | 2.2% | – | 1.9% |
| 2020 | 1.5% | 3.1% | 2.3% | 3.3% |
| 2021 | 1.5% | 1.7% | 2.1% | 2.9% |
| 2022 | 2.3% | 2.2% | 1.1% | 5% |
| 2025 | 2.7% | 3.5% | 3.1% | 0.9% |
What the numbers mean for recruiting
Three practical points follow from the data. First, the pool HVAC recruits from is younger and more Hispanic than a decade ago, and more Black than the trades it competes with. Training programs are already ahead of the workforce on both counts: 25.3 percent of 2023-24 completers were Hispanic and 18.1 percent were Black. Second, at 2.7 percent, women remain the most underrepresented group; even matching the completer share would add several thousand technicians. Third, retirements are a steady, predictable source of openings rather than a looming cliff. With 105,000 technicians aged 55 and over, and 28,000 already 65 or older, the trade will need to replace roughly 10,000 older workers a year over the next decade on a simple ten-year horizon, well within the 23,251 credentials a year that schools already award.
Original synthesis (HVAC Brief calculations)
1. The HVAC workforce is not aging
HVAC is often described as an aging trade facing a retirement cliff. The federal data do not support that framing. The occupation’s median age fell from 40.9 in 2015 to 39.9 in 2025. The share aged 55 and over rose slightly, from 17.2 to 18.7 percent, but the under-35 share rose more, from 38.7 to 40.3 percent. Against the US workforce, where 23.2 percent are 55 or older and the median is 42.1, HVAC is young. Retirements will produce openings (BLS projects about 40,100 openings a year, mostly replacements, see job outlook by state), but the trade is not facing an unusual retirement wave.
2. The replacement ratio by age
A simple way to gauge succession is to compare the youngest prime-age cohort with the cohort nearing retirement. In 2025 there were 159,000 HVAC technicians aged 25 to 34 and 105,000 aged 55 and over: 1.5 younger technicians for every older one. For all workers the ratio is 1.0. For plumbers it is 1.3, and for electricians 1.4. On this measure HVAC is better placed than the labor market as a whole.
3. How many women would parity in the pipeline add
Women earn 3.7 percent of HVAC credentials and hold 2.7 percent of jobs. If the workforce share converged to the completer share, the trade would employ about 21,000 women instead of 15,000. That is a ceiling set by current training patterns, not a forecast: it assumes women who complete programs enter and stay in the trade at the same rate as men, an assumption that may not hold.
4. Hispanic workers account for much of the growth
Between 2015 and 2025, CPS employment in the occupation grew by about 153,000. Hispanic employment, at 21.6 percent of 408,000 and 26.7 percent of 561,000, grew from about 88,000 to 150,000, an increase of about 62,000, or 41 percent of total growth (HVAC Brief calculation from published shares). The Hispanic share of HVAC program completers rose from 15.7 to 25.3 percent over a similar period.
Charts worth building from this data
- Line chart of women’s share of HVAC technicians, 2015 to 2025, with electricians and plumbers.
- Population pyramid of HVAC technicians by age, 2015 vs 2025.
- Grouped bar chart of median age by trade.
- Stacked bar of race and ethnicity, workforce vs program completers.
- Dot plot of women’s share: workforce vs completers, by trade.
Most quotable statistics
- Women are 2.7 percent of US HVAC technicians, about 15,000 people (BLS CPS 2025).
- The median HVAC technician is 39.9, younger than the median US worker (42.1).
- Only 18.7 percent of HVAC technicians are 55 or older, against 23.2 percent of all workers.
- The HVAC workforce has gotten younger: median age 40.9 in 2015, 39.9 in 2025.
- More than one in four HVAC technicians (26.7%) is Hispanic or Latino.
- Women earned 3.7 percent of HVAC training credentials in 2023-24 (IPEDS).
Data limitations
- CPS is a household survey of about 60,000 households a month. For an occupation of about half a million workers, annual shares have sampling error of roughly a percentage point for race groups and several tenths of a point for women.
- The 2023 and 2024 CPS annual tables could not be retrieved for this report; the series has a gap.
- BLS adopted 2018 SOC occupation codes in CPS from 2020; the HVAC occupation definition did not materially change, but small discontinuities are possible.
- CPS race categories shown are single-race; Hispanic ethnicity overlaps with race. IPEDS categories are mutually exclusive with a race-unknown group. The two are not directly comparable.
- IPEDS counts credentials, not people, and only at Title IV institutions. Apprenticeships and employer training are not included.
- Age bands are as published; medians are BLS published values.
Downloadable dataset: recommended fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| year | CPS annual average year |
| occupation | SOC title |
| employed_thousands | CPS employed, thousands |
| pct_women | Women, percent |
| pct_white / pct_black / pct_asian | Race shares, percent |
| pct_hispanic | Hispanic or Latino, percent |
| age_band_counts | Employed by age band, thousands |
| median_age | Median age |
| ipeds_completions | HVAC credentials, CIP 47.0201 |
| ipeds_pct_women | Women’s share of credentials |
Press summary
Women make up 2.7 percent of US HVAC technicians, up from 1.7 percent in 2015, and the trade is younger than the overall workforce, according to an HVAC Brief analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The median HVAC technician is 39.9 years old, against 42.1 for all workers, and only 18.7 percent are 55 or older, undercutting the common claim of an aging HVAC workforce. More than a quarter of technicians are Hispanic.
Suggested headlines
- The HVAC workforce is getting younger, not older
- Women are 2.7% of HVAC technicians, a record but still rare
- HVAC techs are younger than the average American worker
- One in four HVAC technicians is Hispanic
- HVAC training programs are more diverse than the trade
Source quality ranking
| Source | Tier | Why |
|---|---|---|
| BLS Current Population Survey, Tables 11 and 11b | Tier 1 | Federal household survey, includes self-employed |
| NCES IPEDS Completions | Tier 1 | Mandatory federal reporting by Title IV institutions |
| Industry association workforce surveys | Tier 3 | Member samples, not representative; not used for figures here |
Methodology
- Workforce demographics: BLS CPS annual averages, Table 11 (employed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race and Hispanic ethnicity) and Table 11b (by age), 2015 to 2022 and 2025, retrieved from BLS via archived copies.
- Occupation: Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers; comparison occupations electricians, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, roofers, and total employed.
- Shares ‘under 35′, ’35 to 54′ and ’55 and over’ are sums of published age bands divided by the published total.
- Training: IPEDS Completions, CIP 47.0201, first major, sub-baccalaureate and associate award levels; 2023-24 file C2024_A and 2014-15 file C2015_A revised.
- Hispanic contribution to growth uses published shares applied to published totals and is approximate.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of HVAC technicians are women?
2.7 percent in 2025, according to the Current Population Survey, or about 15,000 women out of 561,000 employed.
How many women work in HVAC?
About 15,000 as HVAC mechanics and installers in 2025. The figure excludes women in HVAC sales, dispatch, engineering and management.
What is the average age of an HVAC technician?
The median age is 39.9 (2025), younger than the 42.1 median for all employed people.
Is the HVAC workforce aging?
Not on federal data. The median age fell from 40.9 in 2015 to 39.9 in 2025, and only 18.7 percent of technicians are 55 or older, below the 23.2 percent for all workers.
What share of HVAC technicians are Hispanic?
26.7 percent in 2025, up from 21.6 percent in 2015.
What share of HVAC technicians are Black?
10.4 percent in 2025, close to the 12.7 percent share of all employment.
How many HVAC technicians are there?
The CPS counted 561,000 employed in 2025, including the self-employed. The OEWS employer survey counted 409,670 wage and salary jobs in May 2025.
Are more women going into HVAC?
Yes, slowly. Women earned 3.7 percent of HVAC program credentials in 2023-24, up from 2.4 percent in 2014-15.
How does HVAC compare with other trades for women?
HVAC (2.7%) is between roofers (0.9%) and electricians (3.5%) and plumbers (3.1%).
Where does HVAC demographic data come from?
From the BLS Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of about 60,000 households conducted by the Census Bureau, and from IPEDS for training programs.
Cite this report
Sources
- BLS Current Population Survey, Table 11, Employed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, annual averages 2015 to 2025.
- BLS Current Population Survey, Table 11b, Employed persons by detailed occupation and age, annual averages.
- NCES Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions, 2014-15 and 2023-24, CIP 47.0201.
- BLS CPS technical documentation and reliability of estimates.
The HVAC Brief is an independent trade publication. We do not sell equipment, take manufacturer advertising, or accept payment for placement in our research. Corrections welcome.
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