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Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers vs Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers and Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$59,810
$62,970
Employment · BLS OEWS
396,870
455,940
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
37th pct
20th pct

At a glance

Dimension Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
Median pay $59,810 $62,970
Employment 396,870 455,940
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+8.1%) About average (+4.5%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 40,100 44,000
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 37th pct Low · 20th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 36th pct · 21% of tasks 18th pct · 15% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Mechanical, Building and Construction, Customer and Personal Service, Problem Sensitivity, Near Vision, Deductive Reasoning, Operations Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Finger Dexterity, Critical Thinking, Troubleshooting, Inductive Reasoning, Manual Dexterity, Engineering and Technology, Repairing, Visualization, Complex Problem Solving, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Category Flexibility, Multilimb Coordination, Extent Flexibility, Public Safety and Security, Design, Physics, Mathematics, Speaking, Monitoring, Judgment and Decision Making.

Specific to Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers

  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Installation
  • Computers and Electronics
  • English Language
  • Active Listening
  • Quality Control Analysis
  • Speech Clarity

Specific to Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

  • Trunk Strength
  • Far Vision
  • Administration and Management
  • Selective Attention
  • Control Precision
  • Coordination
  • Operation and Control
  • Time Management

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Computer aided design CAD software , Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Word processing software , Facilities management software , Data base user interface and query software .

Specific to Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers

Specific to Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers or Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers vs Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers-vs-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers vs Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers-vs-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers-vs-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters,
  title  = {Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers vs Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers-vs-plumbers-pipefitters-and-steamfitters}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.