How much to pay an apprentice in Georgia

Most contractors I talk to set apprentice pay one of two ways. They copy whatever the shop down the road pays, or they pick a number that feels cheap enough to take a risk on. Both ways get you the same result: you hire somebody, train them for three months, and lose them to a dollar an hour.

Start with what the market already pays

Here’s the federal data for Georgia, May 2025:

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (released May 2026), via O*NET and Wagedex. Base pay only, no overtime or bonuses. “Entry” is the 10th percentile. Figures checked against the BLS OEWS query system. Apprentice range is our read of current Georgia postings.

Look at the helper rows. An electrician’s helper in Georgia makes a median of $18.77 an hour. A plumber’s helper makes $18.14. That’s your real competition, because somebody with zero experience can walk into a helper job at that rate tomorrow.

The usual apprentice formula, and why it breaks in Georgia

Registered apprenticeship programs usually start apprentices at 40 to 60 percent of journeyman pay and step them up as they log hours, ending at 100 percent. On paper, half of the Georgia electrician median is about $14 an hour.

Nobody’s taking that job. Not when helper work pays $18. In practice, Georgia apprentice postings land between $16 and $20 an hour. A few real examples from metro Atlanta postings: $17 an hour for an install apprentice in Marietta, $33,000 to $41,000 a year for a service apprentice at a big manufacturer, and $21 to $31 an hour on a union truck.

Put the raises in writing

This is where small shops win or lose. A $17 offer with a written schedule beats an $18 offer with “we’ll see.” Something like this works:

• Start: $17 an hour (HVAC: EPA 608 in the first month, before they touch refrigerant)
• After 1,000 hours (about six months): $18.50
• After 2,000 hours (about a year): $20
• After 4,000 hours (about two years): $22 to $24, running calls on their own

Adjust the numbers to your shop. The point is that the apprentice can see where they’ll be in two years. People leave when they can’t.

Watch the salary sites

At least one popular salary site shows Georgia HVAC apprentices averaging around $25 an hour. That’s close to the federal median for all HVAC techs in Georgia ($27.11), most of whom are fully trained, and about $7 above the entry end of the market ($17.78). If a candidate shows up quoting it, show them the real numbers and the raise schedule. That conversation goes better than you’d think.

More: Georgia trades pay · Starting a registered apprenticeship in Georgia

Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025 via O*NET and Wagedex; apprentice wage steps from DOL-funded guidance (Urban Institute, 2021); Georgia postings via Joblist, accessed November 2026.

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