Throughline

Skilled trades

HVAC and Refrigeration Technician in the United States

75 postings read · sampled 2026-09-01 · source ats

What employers actually ask for

Credentials named in the 75 postings we read, ranked by how many mentioned each one.

What it costs

Exam and application fees plus typical self-study hours. Almost nobody needs every credential on this list — start with the top line.

Most-asked-for, on its own
$150EPA Section 608 Technician Certification · ~20 hrs
asked for in 11 of 75 postings — 15%
If you earned all 1 of them
$150
fees checked 2026-08
20 hrs
20 hours — about 2 weeks at 10 hrs/wk

Not in the total: Bachelor's Degree — cost varies by institution.

Lower signal for this role

Credentials that barely appeared in this sample. That is not a claim they are worthless — plenty are valuable for a different job, a different city, or a promotion later. It is a claim that employers here mostly did not ask.

What the official taxonomy says

O*NET surveys people already doing this job. That describes who got hired over a long window, not what employers are asking for now — where it disagrees with the counts above, the counts are the more current answer.

Education reported by people doing this job
68%reported post-secondary certificate
  • Post-secondary certificate68%
  • Less than high school diploma20%
  • Some college, no degree7%

Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed. Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

O*NET 49-9021.00 · pulled 2026-09-01 · percentages are of surveyed workers, each rounded separately, so they need not total 100

What it pays

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. A different survey from the postings above, so the two do not share a sample.

$40,050
10th percentile
$61,010
median
$95,210
90th percentile

Every credential above costs $150 — less than a day's pay at the median.

Who was hiring

Employers with at least one matching posting in this sample.

Walmart · Budderfly · Pearce Services · SpaceX · Sila Services · Cogent Talent Solutions · Green Thumb Industries · Anduril Industries · Atlas Energy Solutions · Curaleaf · HelloFresh · Manitoulin Group of Companies · Westgate Resorts · Wynn Resorts

Next

  • Roast and Resolve — Now aim your résumé at this target. Free roast, paid rewrite.
  • Synap — Two-minute daily lessons to drill the skills underneath the credential.