A plumber apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. To start in Indiana, you need a program that the Indiana Plumbing Commission approves and the $10 plumbing apprentice registration. Indiana has 302 registered plumber apprenticeship programs, with 6,691 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
About $830 a week at 40 hours. The middle half of starting wages is $17.00 to $25.00 an hour.
Median pay at the end
$36.89 an hour
About $1,480 a week at 40 hours.
From 4,605 recent starting wages in 277 programs, and 1,975 people who finished recently in 187 programs. The 2 figures come from different groups of apprentices, not the same people followed from start to finish.
How to get in
Pick 2 or 3 programs near you
Use the list below. Search each program's name with its city to find it.
Each program takes applications in its own way. Ask each program how and when it takes applications.
Local 440 takes applications all year, online only. To be considered for the 2027-2028 program year, you must meet the minimum levels on both Local 440 tests by January 31, 2027. The Local 440 Training Center gives the tests by appointment only, so book your tests early.
The Indiana Plumbing Commission registers apprentice plumbers, and you must be at least 17 years old and in an approved apprenticeship program. You apply online, and your approved school fills in a sponsor form with your supervising journeyman plumber or plumbing contractor. The $10 fee isn't refunded, and you renew the registration for $10 every even year, by October 1.
All 302 registered programs, grouped by who runs them, with the most apprentices first.
302 programs
Sort by
Most apprenticesThe largest programs first
Name, A to Z
Contractor associations
4 programs · 2,623 apprentices
Each of these programs carries the name of a contractor association: Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) or Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC).
No program matches. Pick another area or check the spelling.
Also trains other trades: these 6 sponsors train more than one trade, so their count includes apprentices in their other trades.A count of 0 means the federal data recorded no apprentices in training, and it doesn't always mean the program has closed.
How one program works: Mechanical Skills
Each program runs in its own way. This is how one of them takes apprentices and trains them, as its own pages describe it.
Mechanical Skills
1
Get a job with a plumbing contractor
As an apprentice plumber, you work under a licensed plumbing contractor or journeyman plumber. Your employer enrolls you at Mechanical Skills and gives you the time to attend class.
2
Enroll at Mechanical Skills
You can enroll at any time of year, and your enrollment starts the application for your plumbing apprentice registration. The school year runs from August through May. If you enroll after it starts, your hours on the job count, but your class credit starts the next school year.
3
Attend class 1 night a week
Class meets 1 night a week, on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and starts at 6 pm for up to 3 hours. The school year has 34 classes, and you get class credit only for a full year of 144 hours.
4
Complete 6,400 hours on the job
The program is 6,400 hours on the job and 576 classroom hours over 4 years. Each year, that is 1,600 hours on the job and 144 classroom hours.
Associated Builders and Contractors of Indiana/Kentucky (ABC) is the largest sponsor on the list, and its count includes the other trades it trains. Tuition is $610 a semester for an ABC member and $840 for a non-member, and ABC bills each semester. New students also pay a $100 enrollment fee, and the plumbing codebook costs $85.
Choose a program that the Indiana Plumbing Commission approves. The commission's list of approved apprenticeship programs includes ABC, the Plumbers, Steamfitters & HVACR Service Technicians Local 440 JATC (Local 440) in Indianapolis and Mechanical Skills.
To apply to Local 440, you must be at least 18 years old. Local 440 is the second-largest program on the list. If you're a high school senior on schedule to graduate, you can apply at 17, but you must be 18 before the committee takes you on as an apprentice. You need these documents to apply.
your driver's license
your high school diploma or GED certificate
an official transcript of your high school grades
After you apply online and pay the $20 application fee, call the Local 440 Training Center to book your 2 tests. The Math Assessment covers 7th to 9th grade math. In the Journey Assessment, you learn about the trade and answer questions about it.
Local 440 also has trainees, who earn a wage and medical insurance before they start class as apprentices. Applicants may have a criminal background check, and accepted applicants must follow the committee's substance abuse policy.
Mechanical Skills is a plumbing apprenticeship school in Beech Grove, and its program takes 4 years. Mechanical Skills is the third-largest program on the list. Contractors outside Marion County and the counties around it can register their apprentices in its online program.
Note: Mechanical Skills allows 4 absences a year, and a fifth absence can end your apprenticeship. Each month, you turn in a work record of your hours on the job, signed by a journeyman plumber or contractor.
To work as a journeyman plumber in Indiana, you need your own license from the Indiana Plumbing Commission, and cities and counties can't require another license from you. You start with the $10 plumbing apprentice registration. After at least 4 years in an approved apprenticeship program, you can apply to take the journeyman plumber exam.
U.S. Department of Labor national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026: the programs, the apprentice counts, the 2 median wages and the range of starting wages
The U.S. Department of Labor data has 7 Indiana filings whose registration numbers name a different state. No figure counts those filings. Every bar uses the same scale.
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