The top plumbing license: designs systems, pulls permits, and supervises crews.
You design the piping for a new medical office, check your journeymen's work, and handle a call from an inspector. Then you diagnose a mystery leak at a hotel.
Masters can pull permits and run jobs; many run their own business.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Apprenticeship, about 8 years after high school. Paid apprenticeship (4-5 years) through the United Association (UA) union or contractor programs: earn while you learn, no tuition debt. Then journeyman years and a master plumber exam.
Ways in: Apprenticeship, Trade school. Training cost: Get paid while you train.
Majors to look at: Plumbing Technology (trade school), Plumbing Apprenticeship.
Growing about average (about 4% over 10 years).
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps with code lookups, sizing and estimates; designing systems, pulling permits and fixing real leaks stays licensed handwork.
Classes: Algebra, Physics, Construction or plumbing CTE, Drafting or CAD.
Official data: O*NET occupation 47-2152.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.