Eastern Washington - Northeast Oregon Pipe Trades Apprenticeship Committee
HVAC/Refrigeration Mechanic
Pasco, Washington · Union · SOC 49-9021
As published · retrieved 2026-08-26
What the record says
- Tuition
- $0
- Year-one pay
- $29.34/hr
- Journey rate
- $65.20/hr
- Term
- 10,000 hours
You are an employee, not a student. They pay you.
First step on the registered wage scale.
Paid once you turn out, not during the term.
Plus 1,231 hours of classroom instruction.
Our estimate · 2,000 hours a year
Four years from now
Our estimate, calculated by TradeFooting from this program's published first-step wage, journey rate and registered term. The registry publishes those three facts. The projection below is ours, and the workings are shown.
| Year | Average rate | Gross pay |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $31.95/hr | $63,896 |
| Year 2 | $37.16/hr | $74,328 |
| Year 3 | $42.38/hr | $84,760 |
| Year 4 | $47.60/hr | $95,192 |
| Total earned | $318,176 | |
| Tuition paid | $0 | |
| Debt | $0 | |
How this is worked out
- Year one shows $31.95/hr, not the $29.34/hr first step, because you do not sit on the first step for twelve months. Every year here is priced at its midpoint, so each rate is what that year averages.
- Assumes 2,000 paid hours a year. No overtime.
- Pay rises evenly as a share of the journey scale, from the registered first step up to 85% of the journey rate by the end of the term. Real schedules move in steps and most of the rise lands late, so an even rise pays the early years more than a real schedule would, and the four-year total may be overstated for that reason.
- No year here is paid the full journey rate, because that rate starts when you turn out, not during the term. Where the registered term runs shorter than four years, the later years hold at 85% instead of rising to it, so those years read low.
- Gross pay before tax. Tools, dues and exam fees are not deducted.
- The registry publishes the first-step rate and the journey rate. It does not publish the steps in between, so those are modeled here, not sourced.
The occupation, not this program
What hvacs earn in Washington
$75,660median, per year
Half earn more, half less, across all experience levels. National median $61,010.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS · SOC 49-9021 · survey 2025-05 · retrieved 2026-08-26
Where to apply