Best States for Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in 2026

Across the country, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers earned a national median salary of $61,010 in 2026, with 409,670 people employed in the occupation. The 10 highest‑ranked states in the CareerGPS Pro results all score above 53 on our Geography Score scale, but they differ substantially on salary and employment levels. Several top‑ranked states report median salaries noticeably above the national figure, including California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, Alaska, and Minnesota. Texas and Florida, by contrast, rank in the top 10 on the CareerGPS Geography Score while having median salaries below the national median. Employment counts also vary widely within the top 10. Florida has 39,160 employed heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in 2026, compared with 610 in Alaska. These counts describe how many jobs are captured in the data for each state, not how many employers or openings exist. All 10 top‑ranked states share the same reported 8.1% growth rate for the occupation, so differences in the CareerGPS Geography Score and ranking among them must come from other factors captured in the scoring methodology, not from differing growth projections.

Nationally, heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers had a median annual salary of $61,010 in 2026, with 409,670 people employed in this occupation. Within the top‑ranked states, several report median salaries above this national median. California ($72,560), New York ($74,430), Massachusetts ($77,300), New Jersey ($74,450), Illinois ($77,410), Washington ($75,660), Alaska ($77,430), and Minnesota ($76,350) all exceed the $61,010 national figure. Texas, at $57,760, and Florida, at $56,670, have median salaries below the national median. Employment counts among the top‑ranked states also span a wide range. Florida has the largest reported employment in this group at 39,160 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, while Alaska has the smallest, at 610. California (35,130) and Texas (34,730) also have larger employment counts than the other top‑ranked states listed.

California holds the #1 rank in the CareerGPS Pro list for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, with a Geography Score of 78.53. Its median salary of $72,560 is above the national median of $61,010. Among the top‑ranked states, California’s employment count of 35,130 is one of the largest. Within this group, only Florida, at 39,160, reports a higher employment count. Texas, at 34,730, is slightly lower than California on this metric. California’s projected growth rate for this occupation is 8.1%, the same as the reported growth rate for every other state in the top‑10 list, so its #1 rank reflects how the CareerGPS Geography Score combines salary, employment, growth, and any additional underlying inputs rather than a unique growth projection.

New York and New Jersey form a closely ranked pair in the Northeast, at #2 and #4 respectively in the CareerGPS Pro results. New York’s median salary is $74,430, while New Jersey’s is $74,450; both are above the national median of $61,010. Massachusetts, ranked #3 overall with a Geography Score of 62.20, reports a median salary of $77,300, which is higher than California’s $72,560. Massachusetts has an employment count of 8,200, compared with New York’s 24,430 and New Jersey’s 10,330. New York’s employment count of 24,430 is larger than those of both Massachusetts and New Jersey, while New Jersey has a larger employment count than Massachusetts. All three states share the same 8.1% growth rate for this occupation, underscoring that differences in their Geography Scores and ranks are tied to the broader scoring methodology rather than differing reported growth.

Illinois ranks #5 among states for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, with a Geography Score of 58.80 and a median salary of $77,410. This salary is higher than California’s $72,560 and the national median of $61,010. Washington holds the #6 rank with a Geography Score of 57.96 and a median salary of $75,660, which is also above the national median and higher than California’s median. Illinois has an employment count of 9,740, while Washington reports 7,370. Compared with some of the larger‑employment states in the top 10, Illinois and Washington sit in the middle of the employment range: both have smaller employment counts than Florida, California, Texas, and New York, but larger counts than Massachusetts, New Jersey, Alaska, and Minnesota. Like all of the top‑ranked states, they have an 8.1% reported growth rate for this occupation.

Texas and Florida rank #7 and #8 in the CareerGPS Pro state list, with Geography Scores of 57.56 and 56.07, respectively. Both states have reported median salaries below the national median of $61,010: Texas at $57,760 and Florida at $56,670. Despite these lower median salaries relative to the national figure, Texas and Florida have some of the largest employment counts among the top states. Florida’s 39,160 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers represent the largest employment count in the top‑10 group, while Texas reports 34,730. Florida’s employment count of 39,160 is higher than California’s 35,130 and New York’s 24,430, and Texas’ 34,730 is also higher than New York’s figure. Both states share the common 8.1% growth rate for this occupation found across all top‑10 states.

Alaska and Minnesota close out the top‑10 list, ranking #9 and #10 with Geography Scores of 53.44 and 53.29. Both states report median salaries well above the national median of $61,010: Alaska at $77,430 and Minnesota at $76,350. Among the top states, Alaska has the smallest reported employment count, at 610 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in 2026. Minnesota reports 4,200, which is higher than Alaska’s but lower than that of every other top‑ranked state. While their employment counts are on the smaller side compared with other states in the top 10, Alaska and Minnesota show that states can combine higher‑than‑national salaries with a wide range of employment sizes. Like all of the other top‑ranked states, they share the same 8.1% projected growth rate for this occupation.

CareerGPS Pro builds these rankings from authoritative labor‑market data combined with our CareerGPS Geography Score. For this article, we focus on heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers (occupation 49-9021) in 2026. Each state’s Geography Score reflects multiple underlying metrics, including median annual salary, employment, and projected growth where available. The top‑10 list in this Insight is ordered strictly by the Geography Score rankings provided: California ranks #1 with a score of 78.53, followed by New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, Texas, Florida, Alaska, and Minnesota. Because the internal weighting of each metric is not supplied, this article does not attribute a state’s rank to any single factor. Instead, it reports how salary, employment, growth, and Geography Score values line up across the states so that readers can interpret the rankings alongside their own career and relocation goals.