Updated May 2026 · BLS OEWS 2024
Trade Pay Blog
Real salary data for skilled-trades workers, drawn from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS program and the Department of Labor's apprenticeship registry. No fluff, no scraped job-board figures, no synthetic salary projections. Every article ties back to public-domain federal data so the underlying numbers are auditable.
What You'll Find Here
The blog covers four recurring themes. First, the highest-paying trades — which occupations clear $80K, $100K, or $120K medians, and what entry pathways lead there. Second, trade-school vs college economics — the apples-to-apples comparison of paid apprenticeship versus four-year degree paths, including student-debt service, time-to-earning, and projected lifetime earnings. Third, geographic detail — which metros pay the most in nominal dollars, which deliver the best real purchasing power once cost of living is subtracted, and where labor demand is concentrated. Fourth, structural trends — fastest-growing trades, union wage premiums, apprentice-pay progressions, and the impact of federal infrastructure and electrification investment on specific occupations.
Underlying every analysis is BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data at bls.gov/oes — the most rigorous public wage benchmark available in the United States, drawn from a survey of roughly 1.2 million employers per release. For projected employment growth through 2032, we lean on the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook at bls.gov/ooh. For apprenticeship pathways, the U.S. Department of Labor's apprenticeship.gov registry. All three are public-domain federal data sources.
Where the blog publishes a composite metric — most often the Trade Pay Score, our 0-100 grade combining nominal pay, wage growth, employment depth, and cost-of-living-adjusted purchasing power — the full formula is documented on the methodology page. The goal is to make every claim verifiable from primary sources.
Latest Articles
April 14, 2026
Union vs Non-Union Trade Wages: How Much More Do Union Workers Make?
Data-driven breakdown of union vs non-union wages for 50 skilled trades. Union trade workers earn 8-39% more, see the exact premium for every trade.
April 7, 2026
How Much Do Trade Apprentices Make? Pay by Trade & Year
Year-by-year apprentice pay progression for 50 skilled trades. Earn while you learn with $0 tuition; see what you make each year.
March 30, 2026
Fastest Growing Trades in 2026: Jobs with the Most Demand
The 15 fastest-growing skilled trades ranked by wage growth and demand. Energy, infrastructure, and labor shortages driving trade wages up.
March 24, 2026
Best Paying Trades Without a College Degree (2026)
The 20 highest-paying careers you can start without a college degree. Skilled trades offering $50K-$100K+ with apprenticeship training instead of student debt.
March 17, 2026
Highest Paying Trades in 2026 (Ranked by Salary)
The top 20 highest-paying skilled trades ranked by median annual wage from BLS data. See which trades earn the most.
March 9, 2026
Trade School vs College: Salary Comparison 2026
How do trade salaries compare to college graduates? A data-driven comparison of earnings, debt, and time-to-earning.
March 3, 2026
Best Cities for Tradespeople: Pay vs Cost of Living
Cost-of-living adjusted trade pay rankings reveal surprising winners. Where tradespeople earn the most in real purchasing power.
How We Verify Our Numbers
Every wage figure published on the TradeWages blog is traceable to a specific BLS OEWS series at bls.gov/oes, identified by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code and metropolitan statistical area code. Wage-growth percentages are computed by comparing the most recent OEWS release median to the same series five releases prior. Cost-of-living adjustments use publicly available metropolitan price-parity indexes; the Trade Pay Score combines those inputs with employment depth (also from OEWS) into a single 0-100 grade. Read the full methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are these articles researched?
Every article on the TradeWages blog is grounded in U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data — specifically the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program at https://www.bls.gov/oes/, the Occupational Outlook Handbook at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/, and the Department of Labor's apprenticeship registry at https://www.apprenticeship.gov/. We also draw on BLS Current Population Survey union-membership data and publicly available cost-of-living indexes. No survey panels, no estimated salaries, no scraped job-board data.
How often is the blog updated?
New articles are published roughly twice a month, with full re-analyses after each annual BLS OEWS release (typically late spring). The current dataset reflects 2024 OEWS figures and was last refreshed May 2026. Existing articles are revisited and updated when underlying wage data changes materially.
Why focus on skilled trades over white-collar careers?
Skilled trades pay better than most people assume — many out-earn the average bachelor's-degree holder, particularly in the first 10-15 years when degree holders are still in school and paying down loans. The trade pathway also avoids the structural cost of college tuition. We focus on trades because the data underlying them is high-quality (BLS OEWS is the gold standard for U.S. wage benchmarking) and the career-decision stakes are real for hundreds of thousands of high-school graduates and career-changers each year.
Do you cover trades outside the United States?
No — every wage figure on TradeWages is U.S. BLS data. The BLS OEWS program covers all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We do not have equivalent-quality public-domain wage data for other countries, so we limit coverage to where the underlying data supports rigorous analysis.
Can I republish or cite this content?
Yes — please link back to the specific article or data page you cite. Underlying BLS data is U.S. government public domain, but our analysis, scoring methodology, and editorial framing are TradeWages original work. The Trade Pay Score in particular is a proprietary composite — please credit "TradeWages" if you reproduce score grades.
The TradeWages blog publishes data-driven articles on skilled-trades salaries, sourced from the U.S. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics 2024 release. Every wage figure is traceable to a specific BLS series and metropolitan statistical area.