Licensed supply, wages, demand, and real current openings for HVAC technicians in Orange County, CA, updated nightly from the state register, BLS, and live job listings.
Orange County, CA carries 1,280 licensed HVAC technicians and a median wage of $73,830/yr ($35.49/hr).
A free report on your market: what the trade pays here, where your credential sits against the local licensed workforce, and the nearby counties that pay more, with the difference and the distance. No account needed.
This county sits at the 88th percentile nationally for HVAC technicians pay, above the median US county. Average weekly wages across the county's construction trades rose 5.1% year over year (BLS QCEW).
Counties within 150 miles whose published median for this occupation is higher than Orange County's. Medians from the same BLS OEWS series shown above, not offers, and pay is only one reason to move.
| County | Median | Difference | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara County, CA | $78,640 | +$4,810 | 142 mi |
| Imperial County, CA | $75,220 | +$1,390 | 146 mi |
| San Diego County, CA | $74,880 | +$1,050 | 73 mi |
Real, current HVAC technicians openings, 0 in Orange County itself, 1 elsewhere in the metro area (marked). Jobs by Adzuna.
Active, licensed firms and master-tier individuals on the CA register.
| Name | Tier |
|---|---|
| 1-800-Coolness | Contractor |
| 10perature Heating And Air Conditioning | Contractor |
| 1st Choice Heating & Air Conditioning Inc | Contractor |
| 21st Century Air Master H V A C Inc | Contractor |
| 24 Seven | Contractor |
| 32 Dimensions Maintenance Inc | Contractor |
| 405 HVAC | Contractor |
| 57 Heating And Air Conditioning | Contractor |
| 911 Drain Lines And Plumbing | Contractor |
| A & A Refrigeration | Contractor |
Orange County holds 26% of the metro area's 4,978 licensed HVAC technicians (the second-largest HVAC technicians pool among its 2 counties), at 4.1 per 10,000 residents against 3.9 metro-wide; the largest pool is Los Angeles County with 3,698.
Counted from ATI's nightly diff of the CA register itself, over the trailing year. Runs that failed a data-quality gate are excluded, so a scraper outage is never reported as workers leaving.
| Movement | Workers | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| New licences issued | 12 | People who entered the licensed workforce here. |
| Licences lapsed | 87 | Expired or not renewed. Retirement, relocation or leaving the trade. |
| Moved up a credential tier | 0 | Apprentice to journeyman, journeyman to master, and so on. |
| Net change | -75 | New licences minus lapsed. Negative means the licensed base shrank. |
Employment from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for the industry this trade sits in; payroll from the Census County Business Patterns. Establishment counts are QCEW where the county is disclosed and an ATI estimate otherwise.
| Measure | Value | What it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Employer establishments | 1,188 | Physical business locations in this industry. |
| Industry employment | 15,599 | Everyone on those payrolls, not only licensed trades. |
| Annual industry payroll | $1,389M | Total wages paid across those establishments (Census CBP, 2023). |
County-wide construction activity, across all trades rather than HVAC technicians specifically. Each figure names its source and the period it covers.
| Measure | Value | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| New housing units permitted | 4,992 | Last full year, county-wide. 16 per 10,000 residents. Permits lead construction hiring by months, so this is the earliest honest signal of work arriving (Census Building Permits Survey). |
| Construction employment | 70,402 | Everyone working in construction in this county, all trades and office staff. Average pay $1,719 per week. BLS QCEW. |
| Median year homes were built | 1977 | Older stock means more repair, replacement and retrofit work, which is steadier than new build and does not stop in a downturn (Census ACS). |
| Net migration | -20,525 | People who moved in minus people who moved out, from IRS address changes. Arrivals need housing, wiring, plumbing and heat. |
4.0 licensed HVAC technicians per 10,000 residents; 27 licensed holders per 100 estimated workers in the trade; 2.2 registered apprentices per 100 estimated workers; 0.3 apprentices per 10,000 residents. A thin pipeline against an ageing licensed base is how a shortage forms years before it shows up in wages.
License register: 2026-09-17; Wages: 2025-05-31; Demand: 2026-09-17; Apprenticeship: 2025-12-31.
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