Why the Trades Are the Smartest Career Move for the Next Generation

If a seventeen year old asked me today whether to go to college or learn a trade, I would not give them a speech. I would show them the numbers, and let the numbers do the talking.

The math has changed, and most parents have not caught up

The average federal student loan balance in 2025 was $38,375, and a 2025 high school graduate pursuing a bachelor's degree is projected to carry around $40,000 in loans by the time they walk across the stage (according to GOBankingRates, 2025, and NerdWallet's analysis of Department of Education loan data).

A registered apprenticeship costs the opposite of that. It costs nothing to start, and you get paid from day one.

That is not a small difference. That is a four year head start, debt free, while a lot of your friends are still deciding on a major.

You do not have to choose a lower ceiling to avoid the debt

Here is the part people still get wrong. They assume skipping college means settling for less money. The data does not support that.

Median pay for electricians is $62,350 a year, plumbers $62,970, and HVAC technicians $59,810, all according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2024). All three of those sit above the median for all U.S. occupations combined, which is $49,500. None of them require a four year degree.

Apprentices typically start around 50 percent of a fully licensed worker's wage and see built in raises as their skills increase, usually 10 to 15 percent a year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That is a real, visible career ladder from your very first paycheck, not a promise you have to wait four years to test.

The industry is not just stable. It is growing.

Electrician jobs are projected to grow 9 percent through 2034, HVAC roughly 8 percent, with about 81,000 electrician job openings projected every single year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. That is faster growth than the average for all occupations in the country.

And the shortage behind that growth is real. The construction industry alone needed roughly 439,000 additional workers just to keep pace with 2025 demand, and industry estimates put the ratio at roughly five master tradespeople retiring for every one entering the field.

Read that again. Five retiring for every one coming in. That is not a warning sign for someone starting out. That is leverage. Demand like that does not exist in most white collar entry level jobs right now.

Even AI is not steering kids away from the trades anymore

This one surprises people. A 2026 Fordham Institute analysis of AI chatbot responses found that tools like ChatGPT and Claude no longer default to telling someone to go to college when asked directly about their career options. They weigh trade school as a legitimate, comparable path instead of the fallback plan.

And there is real research behind why the trades are pulling in younger workers right now beyond just the pay. Hands on trade work is one of the hardest things for AI to automate, and younger workers are actually moving toward the trades in part because the work is seen as more durable against automation than a lot of entry level office jobs, according to CBS News (2025) and Jobber's annual blue collar survey.

You do not need a four year head start to get started

You do not need trade school before an apprenticeship. Most electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians enter through direct on the job apprenticeship, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. Most registered apprenticeships accept applicants starting at sixteen to eighteen, and there is no upper age limit. Career changers in their thirties and forties enter apprenticeships regularly too. Apprenticeship.gov is the federal database where anyone can search real, paid openings by trade and location.

This is personal for me, not just data

I did not learn this from a report. I learned it standing on a job site as a kid, running a pipe threader while standing on a scrap piece of wood because I was too short to reach the machine. I have spent my career watching people build real, respected lives in this industry, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and more.

If you are a parent reading this, or a young person trying to figure out what comes next, know this. Choosing a trade is not the fallback plan anymore. For a lot of people, it is the smarter one.

I am not a politician, I am not in the military,

But as a Plumber, I protect your world…

Without me, your world smells a whole lot different!

TimmyBoy Founder, Advancing the Trades | Author, Failing to Fail