TX — HOUSTON-THE WOODLANDS-SUGAR LAND, TX

HVAC-R Technician apprenticeships in Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX is the 5th-most populous metro in the US. Here is what working as an hvac-r technician looks like locally.

Updated April 24, 2026

KEY FACTS — HOUSTON-THE WOODLANDS-SUGAR LAND, TX

Houston: ~503 of 7.0K (~7.2%) · market pressure 60/100 — High pressure.

HVAC-R Technician earning $100K+ annually in Houston
~503 of 7.0K (~7.2%) ±75

Confidence: medium. Annual labor earnings (W-2 wages + self-employment), not OEWS hourly-wage extrapolations.

Source: Census ACS 2024 5-year PUMS (state-rate projection onto metro OEWS employment).

OEWS six-figure baseline (hvac-r technician)
~295 of 7.0K (~4.2%)

Confidence: high. Log-normal fit residual is within tolerance.

Source: BLS OEWS.

Market pressure score (hvac-r technician, Houston)
60/100 — High pressure

Confidence: low. Composite of projected annual openings, projected growth, and current $100K+ earnings rate. Not a direct vacancy count.

Source: Projections Central data; score computed by Prentice.

Bachelor’s+ in the Houston labor force
1.61M

Source: Census ACS 2022 5-year.

Competitive ratio ($100K+ earners / bachelor’s+)
3.1 per 10k

A framing, not a forecast. See methodology.

Numerator: ACS PUMS $100K+ annual earners.

Auto-compiled from Texas editorial + Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX labor data. Spot an error?

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX is one of Texas's largest labor markets for hvac-r technicians. It is the 5th-largest metro area in the United States by population. This page collects what adults switching into a career as an hvac-r technician inside the Houston metro need first: how local pay compares to the state, what the available labor-market data says about six-figure work, and which statewide programs and licensing rules apply locally.

Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX hvac-r technicians earn a median of $57,910 (BLS OEWS Houston MSA, May 2024). For Texas context, statewide pay runs from $17/hr at entry to $27/hr at the state median and $42/hr at the experienced end. Statewide headline: $56K avg salary. The Houston metro is one of the country's 15 largest; local wages can diverge from the statewide rollup in either direction, so treat the state snapshot as context rather than a local estimate.

In the Houston metro, estimated six-figure hvac-r technician jobs: ~295 of 7.0K (~4.2%). Confidence: high. Log-normal fit residual is within tolerance. ACS 2024 5-year PUMS estimates ~503 $100K+ annual earners (~7.2% of employed hvac-r technicians, ACS PUMS WAGP+SEMP). Projections Central long-term pressure score: 60/100 (High, low confidence). Bachelor's-plus in the metro labor force: 1.61M (ACS 2022 5-year). For statewide context: Texas shows ~976 of 32K (~3%). Sources: BLS OEWS, Census ACS PUMS, Projections Central, Census ACS.

Statewide hvac-r technician programs and employer-sponsored paths are listed on the Texas programs page; none are flagged as metro-exclusive. Metro program and association references are inherited from sourced state pages unless a metro-exclusive entity is explicitly sourced. Treat them as orientation, not a complete local inventory, and verify current intake details with the statewide source or sponsor before relying. Licensing is set at the state level: Texas rules apply in the Houston metro unless a local authority says otherwise. Metro pages use state-level licensing and program context unless a city, county, or sponsor rule is explicitly sourced. Verify current licensing, local add-ons, and sponsor requirements with the official state or local authority before relying. Most hvac-r technician apprenticeship sites in the Houston metro sit within a 30-45 minute commute from the urban core; long-distance applicants typically register at the program nearest their employer rather than the dispatcher's office.

HVAC-R TECHNICIAN PAY SNAPSHOT — HOUSTON-THE WOODLANDS-SUGAR LAND, TX

$57,910 (OEWS MSA-level median)

Source: BLS OEWS MSA cross-industry estimates. Where MSA-level data is suppressed or unpublished we fall back to the state median and label it explicitly.

Programs across Texas

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