The calculator pulls the median (50th percentile) annual wage for the trade-and-city pair you select from the 2024 BLS OEWS release at bls.gov/oes. It then compounds that figure forward using the trade's actual five-year BLS wage-growth rate, producing 10-, 20-, and 30-year projected earnings paths. The hourly figure is the annual median divided by 2,080 hours (the BLS standard for full-time annual work).

For the trade-versus-degree comparison, the model assumes a four-year college path with no income during school, then a starting bachelor's-degree salary close to the BLS-reported $59,000 median, growing at a typical 3% per year. It subtracts annual student-loan service on $37,000 of debt at 5.3% interest over a 10-year repayment term — figures that match recent National Center for Education Statistics public-domain data. The comparison does not include tuition costs, opportunity cost of college time, trade-school costs, or differential benefits packages; for those layered details, read the full methodology.

The Trade Pay Score badge that appears once you select a metro is a 0-100 composite grade — see the methodology page for the formula. The score weights raw nominal pay, wage growth, employment depth, and cost-of-living-adjusted real pay; an A grade requires 80+. To find apprenticeship programs in your area for any of these trades, see the U.S. Department of Labor's apprenticeship.gov registry; for projected employment growth through 2032, see the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook at bls.gov/ooh.