HVAC Technician Salary in Salt Lake City, UT: Median $63,603 in 2026
Salt Lake City (UT) · COL index 111 · Unemployment 2.8% · Metro pop 1,270,000 · Rank #77 of 283 for HVAC Technician salary
A HVAC Technician in Salt Lake City earns an estimated median of $63,603 per year. That figure starts from the Utah state-level BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics median[1]($54,845) and scales it by Salt Lake City's composite cost-of-living index of 111 (US = 100). The 10th percentile comes in around $49,739; the 90th percentile reaches $109,265. After federal, Utah state, and FICA taxes, a single-filer HVAC Technician takes home approximately $50,340/year — about $4,195/month or $1,936 every other week.
Compared to the national HVAC Technician median of $57,300, Salt Lake City pays +11.0%. Relative to the Salt Lake City median household income of $77,200, a HVAC Techniciansalary runs -17.6%. Local unemployment is 2.8%[3], with an estimated 224 annual HVAC Technician openings inferred from metro population share and national employment (393,300).
HVAC Technician Snapshot — Salt Lake City (2026)
Every row cites a primary public dataset. Rent + home values use Zillow where the metro is in the ZHVI/ZORI coverage set; otherwise ACS + census tract fallbacks.
| Metric | Salt Lake City | National | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC Technician median salary | $63,603 | $57,300 | [1] |
| 10th percentile | $49,739 | $42,890 | [1] |
| 90th percentile | $109,265 | $94,220 | [1] |
| Annual take-home (single filer) | $50,340 | — | [8][10] |
| Median home value (ZHVI) | $564,835 | — | [5] |
| Median rent (ZORI) | $1,607/mo | — | [5] |
| HUD Fair Market Rent (2BR) | $1,475/mo | — | [6] |
| Median household income (ACS) | $95,045 | — | [7] |
| Cost-of-living index | 111.0 | 100.0 | [4] |
| Unemployment rate | 2.8% | — | [3] |
How HVAC Technician Salaries Work in Salt Lake City
City-level wages aren't published directly by BLS for most SOC codes. We build them by anchoring to the Utah state-level OEWS median ($54,845) and scaling by Salt Lake City's composite cost-of-living index (111)[1][4]. That index combines Census ACS rent, Zillow ZHVI, BLS CPI, and AdvisorSmith / ApartmentAdvisor inputs to produce one number per metro. When BLS publishes a separate metro-level wage (MSA-level OEWS), that takes priority — a handful of large metros including New York, LA, Chicago, and DC have this coverage.
On top of the gross wage, the standard US payroll stack applies: federal income tax using 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction[8], FICA (Social Security 6.2% up to $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45%)[9], and Utah state income tax at a 4.6% effective rate ($2,894/yr on the $63,603 median)[10].
Salt Lake City also sits inside a larger metro labor market where commute patterns, remote-work policies, and adjacent-metro wages compete. A tight labor market (unemployment below 4%) gives candidates pricing power in negotiations. Median household income in the metro is $95,045, which frames what "a good HVAC Technician salary" means locally: a $$63,603 wage pays about 67% of the median household income on a single earner.
The deterministic identity: take_home = gross − federal − state − FICA − pre_tax. All math runs client-side; nothing is sent to our servers.
HVAC Technician Salary & Cost-of-Living Context — Salt Lake City
Buy vs rent in Salt Lake City
Monthly PITI on the $564,835 median home in Salt Lake City is ~$3,709/mo — vs a $1,607/mo median rent. Rent burden on median household income is 20.3%, which falls within the recommended 30% guideline for housing costs.
Cost of Living Breakdown — Salt Lake City
Estimated annual expense shares on a $50,340 take-home, using BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey baseline shares scaled to Salt Lake City's COL index of 111. Housing uses the actual median rent.
BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares[1], scaled by Salt Lake City's COL index of 111[4]. Housing uses actual median rent of $1,149/month.
Salary vs Housing Affordability in Salt Lake City
Renting
Buying
At $4,195/mo take-home, the 30% rent rule caps housing at $1,259/mo. Salt Lake City's typical 1–2BR rent runs $1,607/mo[5] (HUD 2BR FMR: $1,475/mo), making rent very affordable on a median HVAC Technician salary. For homebuyers, the 7.6× price-to-income ratio is stretched — expect DTI friction on FHA / conventional underwriting without a co-borrower.
How Salt Lake City Stacks Up for HVAC Technicians
Against 283 major US cities: Salt Lake City ranks #77 for nominal HVAC Technician salary, #46 for rent affordability, and #207 for overall purchasing power. High cost of living absorbs much of Salt Lake City's nominal wage premium. HVAC Technicians here often trade pay for lifestyle, proximity to employers, or family roots — consider nearby metros on a salary-to-COL basis.
Nearby Cities — HVAC Technician Salary Comparison
Salt Lake City's closest metros, scaled by each city's cost-of-living index. Useful for relocation decisions where commute or remote-work policies allow a neighboring metro trade-off.
| City | Est. salary | COL | Rent | vs UT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City, UT ★ | $63,603 | 111 | $1,149 | — |
| Provo, UT | $60,738 | 106 | $1,200 | -4.5% |
| Ogden, UT | $56,154 | 98 | $1,300 | -11.7% |
| St. George, UT | $58,446 | 102 | $1,450 | -8.1% |
| Fort Collins, CO | $63,603 | 111 | $1,500 | +0.0% |
| Miramar, FL | $63,603 | 111 | $2,000 | +0.0% |
HVAC Technician Job Market in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City has an estimated 224 annual HVAC Technicianopenings, extrapolated from the metro's share of 393,300 national HVAC Technicians[1]. The 2.8% unemployment rate[3] signals a competitive labor market where skilled professionals can push for top-of-band offers.
Top employers in Salt Lake City
About the profession: HVAC technicians install and service heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems. Demand is growing with climate change driving increased cooling needs. Typical entry requirement: postsecondary non-degree award / apprenticeship. Projected growth through 2034: 9%[2].
Career Progression & Related Professions in Salt Lake City
Early-career HVAC Technicians in Salt Lake City start around $49,739, reach the city median ($63,603) after 4–8 years, and hit 90th-percentile territory ($109,265) at senior / specialized levels.
Related trades professions in Salt Lake City
Calculators for HVAC Technicians in Salt Lake City
Other professions in Salt Lake City
Frequently Asked Questions — HVAC Technician in Salt Lake City
How much does a HVAC Technician make in Salt Lake City, UT?
The estimated median salary for a HVAC Technician in Salt Lake City is $63,603/year, scaled from the national median ($57,300) by Salt Lake City's composite cost-of-living index of 111 (US = 100). After federal, Utah state, and FICA taxes, take-home is approximately $50,340/year or $4,195/month.
Can a HVAC Technician afford to live in Salt Lake City?
On $4,195/month take-home, the 30% rent rule affords $1,259/month. Salt Lake City's Zillow ZORI median rent is $1,607/mo, HUD's 2BR Fair Market Rent is $1,475/mo. The rent-to-income ratio works out to 21.7%, making housing very affordable for a HVAC Technician at the local median. Home-buyers face 7.6× price-to-income, needing roughly 7.6 years to save a 20% down payment at a 20% savings rate.
How much tax does a HVAC Technician pay in Salt Lake City?
On $63,603 gross, a HVAC Technician in Salt Lake City pays approximately $5,504 in federal income tax (8.7% effective), $2,894 in Utah state income tax (4.6% effective), and $4,865 in FICA (Social Security + Medicare). Total effective rate: 20.9%. Some Utah cities levy local income taxes in addition; check your municipal DoR before filing.
How does Salt Lake City rank for HVAC Technician salaries vs other cities?
Salt Lake City ranks #77 out of 283 tracked metros for nominal HVAC Technician salary, #46 for rent affordability (rent-to-income), and #207 for purchasing power (salary ÷ COL). The high-purchasing-power cities tend to be mid-size metros with strong local employers and moderate housing costs; the low-ranked cities trade high nominal pay for steep rents.
What is the cost-of-living breakdown for a HVAC Technician in Salt Lake City?
On $50,340 take-home, a reasonable baseline budget for Salt Lake City looks like: housing $13,788/yr (27.4%); food $6,440/yr; transportation $5,256/yr; healthcare $3,640/yr; utilities $2,655/yr; savings + discretionary $18,561/yr. Numbers use BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey shares scaled to Salt Lake City's COL index of 111 and the city's actual median rent.
What's the HVAC Technician job market like in Salt Lake City?
Salt Lake City's unemployment rate is 2.8% across the metro of 1,270,000. Estimated annual HVAC Technician openings: ~224 (extrapolated from 393,300 nationally employed and the metro's population share). The tight labor market favors candidates in salary negotiations.
Do Salt Lake City employers pay above or below the Utah median for HVAC Technicians?
Yes — Salt Lake City's estimated HVAC Technician median of $63,603 is 11.0% above the national median. Higher nominal pay in this city partially offsets the higher cost of living; the real picture depends on housing costs and state taxes.
Methodology — How we compute this page
Wage estimate. The Salt Lake City median is derived from the Utah state-level BLS OEWS median ($54,845), scaled by Salt Lake City's composite cost-of-living index of 111. When BLS publishes a direct MSA-level wage for the occupation, that takes priority over the scaled state median. Percentile bands inherit the same scale factor.
Housing + rent. Median home value uses Zillow ZHVI; median rent prefers Zillow ZORI and falls back to Census ACS median gross rent. HUD Fair Market Rents (50th-percentile 2BR) are shown where HUD publishes the metro. Price-to-income and rent-to-income ratios use the estimated HVAC Technicianmedian (not the city's overall median household income) — to reflect the specific role-vs-city affordability picture.
Tax math. Federal tax uses 2025 IRS brackets and the $15,000 single standard deduction. FICA is Social Security 6.2% up to the $176,100 wage base + Medicare 1.45% (+ 0.9% Additional Medicare above $200,000). State tax uses Utah's 2026 brackets from the state DoR (mirrored via Tax Foundation where the DoR's publication is paywalled or split). Local income taxes (e.g. NYC, Portland-OR supplemental, OH municipal) are NOT included — check your municipal authority for specifics.
Cost of living. The 111index is the composite used by CalcFi's /data/cities.ts, which merges Census ACS, BLS CPI shelter, Zillow ZORI, and commercial COL estimators. The COL-adjusted salary on this page assumes the statewide RPP = 95.7(BEA) approximates the state's purchasing power; cities are then scaled relative to that.
Refresh cadence. BLS OEWS releases annually (typically March); BEA RPP releases annually in December; IRS brackets adjust in October; Zillow ZHVI/ZORI updates monthly; HUD FMR publishes annually in August for the upcoming fiscal year. The dateModified shown above auto-bumps to the most recent retrievedAt on any sourced value the page consumes.
Known limits. Metro-level OEWS coverage is partial — only ~50 large MSAs have separately published occupation wages; the rest inherit state-level estimates scaled by COL. Rent and home data may trail the real-time market by 1–3 months (Zillow) or 8–12 months (ACS). Rankings are capped to the city set in our dataset (283 metros), not every incorporated US city.
Sources
Every number on this page cites a primary public dataset. Last reviewed (auto-bumped on the next ISR refresh after an ETL run).
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — state-level occupational wages — www.bls.gov/oes. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- BLS Employment Projections — 2024–34 occupational growth rates — www.bls.gov/emp. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics — metro-level unemployment rate — www.bls.gov/lau. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities (state + metro) — www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- Zillow Research — ZHVI (home value index) + ZORI (observed rent index) — www.zillow.com/research/data. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- HUD Fair Market Rents — 50th-percentile 2-bedroom FY — www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates, metro level — www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- Internal Revenue Service — Federal individual income tax brackets and standard deductions — www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-17. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- Social Security Administration — OASDI / Medicare contribution and wage-base rules — www.ssa.gov. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
- Utah Department of Revenue — 2026 individual income tax brackets (accessed via Tax Foundation mirror) — taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-income-tax-rates. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
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