For Parents

You and Your Kid Are Weighing a Career in the Skilled Trades.
Here Is What You Actually Need to Know.

The skilled trades are a real, well-paid career path that needs no four-year degree. This is a straight look at the cost, the job security, the pay, the steps to get in, and how to talk it through with your teen or young adult.

See the cost side by side How to talk to your teen or young adult Discussion Guide (PDF)
Cost

01What will this cost us?

The question most parents ask first. Here is the trades path next to the four-year-degree path.

Apprenticeship pathFour-year degree path
Who paysYour teen or young adult gets paid to train, from day one.Your family pays tuition, fees, and living costs.
Starting incomeA paid apprentice from day one, earning a real wage while training. Commonly $17 to $22 an hour to start, and higher in top-scale trades like elevator constructor.
Source: TurnToTrades career guides, BLS May 2025.
None while enrolled full time.
Debt at the finishLittle or no schooling debt, since the classroom is usually covered by the employer or program rather than the apprentice.About $29,000 to $30,000 for the average bachelor's borrower, and roughly 6 in 10 graduates borrow.
Time to full earning4 to 5 years, already earning a wage the whole way.4 years or more, with full earning starting after.
There is a lower-cost middle route too. Many trade paths run through a community college program, which costs far less than a four-year school and still leads straight into the work.
Job security

02Is it a real career, or a dead end?

The honest answer, with the numbers behind it.

~860,600
skilled-trade openings a year, across these trades
+9%
projected growth for electricians and HVAC techs over the decade
30+
trades mapped on the site, from carpenter to robotics technician

Most of those yearly openings come from tradespeople retiring out, not from a temporary boom. Someone has to replace them, and the pipeline of new workers has been thin for years. That is the shortage you keep hearing about, and it is why employers are competing for trained people. Hands-on trade work is also hard to automate, since it happens on site, on real equipment.

An honest caveat, because you should have the real picture: not every trade is growing. A few, like tool and die maker, power plant operator, and boilermaker, are projected to shrink over the next decade. The specific trade matters, so it is worth checking the outlook on the one your teen or young adult is drawn to before committing. Every guide on the site lists it.

Pay

03Does the pay actually go anywhere?

Most trades share the same ladder. What changes is how high it climbs, and the range across trades is wide.

  1. Paid apprentice

    Earning a wage from day one while learning the trade, with pay rising on a set schedule as skills build.

  2. Certified and licensed

    Passing the certifications and any state license needed to work independently.

  3. Journeyman

    Full capability and full scale. In most trades, this is where pay takes its biggest jump.

  4. Master, owner, or specialist

    Running crews, starting a business, or moving into high-paid specialty and inspection work.

The same ladder, very different ceilings

National figures from the guides on the site, so you can see the spread across trades:

$58K
CNC machinist, median
$61K
HVAC technician, median ($95K at the top 10%)
$92K
Electrical lineworker, mean, the 2nd-highest construction trade
$110K
Elevator mechanic, median ($159K at the top 10%)

On top of that, electricians' top earners clear about $108,000, welders with specialty skills like underwater or pipe work command $50 to $80 an hour, and experienced tradespeople across fields often start their own businesses. That is the real range, from solid middle-class pay to six figures, across more than thirty trades.

Compare pay by trade, level, and state, and against a degree path →

Getting in

04How does my kid actually get in?

Four steps, none of which require a decision made blind.

  1. Find the fit

    A few questions to point toward trades that match how your teen or young adult likes to work. Try the Trade Finder →

  2. Try it in high school

    Shop classes, CTE programs, and pre-apprenticeships let a student sample the work before committing to anything.

  3. Apply to a registered apprenticeship or program

    Registered apprenticeships pay from day one. See how apprenticeships work →

  4. Find local programs and schools

    Search apprenticeships and trade schools by state, free, no account. Find programs near you →

The conversation

05How to talk to your teen or young adult about it

Most parents fumble this conversation, not because they do not care, but because they are not sure how to open it. A few things that help.

Lead with curiosity, not a verdict

You are not selling a career, you are opening a door. Ask what they actually enjoy doing and how they like to work, then explore from there together. The goal is that the choice feels like theirs, made with real information.

“What part of your day are you actually into?”

“Would you rather build something or sit at a desk all day?”

“Want to look at what these jobs really pay? Some of it will surprise you.”

Explore it side by side

Sit down together and look at a trade guide or the pay tool, no pressure attached. Seeing real numbers and a real day-in-the-life does more than any speech you could give.

A few things to avoid

  • Do not pitch it as a fallback or as the option “since college is not for you.” It is a strong choice on its own, not a consolation prize.
  • Do not decide for them. Pressure, even well-meant, tends to close the door you are trying to open.
  • Do not make it one big, heavy talk. Let it be a running conversation over time.

Where to start

Everything here is free, with no signup.

Find a trade that fits Compare the pay Find local programs

Sources: trade wages and demand from TurnToTrades career guides (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, and Employment Projections 2024–2034). College debt figures from College Board Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2025 and the Education Data Initiative, 2024–2025.

The last step

See it in person

You've done the reading. Before choosing a trade, the final step is standing in a real shop and trying the work, the trades' version of a campus tour. Here is one way to find that visit.

Dream2Career

D2CTix by Dream2Career

Hands-on edutainment experiences

A resource shared by TurnToTrades

Reading about a trade is one thing. Standing in a shop with a tool in your hand is another. D2CTix is an experience marketplace where businesses, trade schools, and community colleges list hands-on events.

Trade experiences are featured in February and August, so those months are worth watching. Availability depends on where you live, and the trades section is still growing.

Events are ticketed and each one is run by the host business, not by TurnToTrades. We receive no payment for this listing. Before booking, ask the host about minimum age, required safety gear, and whether a parent needs to attend.

Visit D2CTix Free career quiz