A plumber apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. In Kentucky, you don't need an apprentice license, but you work under the personal supervision of a licensed master or journeyman plumber. Kentucky has 7 registered plumber apprenticeship programs, with 1,054 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
Median hourly starting wage at UA Local 502 in Louisville
$22.98 an hour
About $920 a week at 40 hours.
From 228 people who started recently at UA Local 502, the largest plumber program in Kentucky.
The federal data has plumber wage records from too few Kentucky programs for a statewide median. The figures are for single programs instead, from the federal data and from what each program publishes.
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.
No program matches. Pick another area or check the spelling.
Also trains other trades: this sponsor trains more than one trade, so its count includes apprentices in its 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: UA Local 502
Each program runs in its own way. This is how one of them takes apprentices and trains them, as its own pages describe it.
UA Local 502
1
Apply online
Apply online at lu502.com, choose the Plumber trade and pay the $40 application fee, which isn't refunded, plus a $1.50 transaction fee. Upload your driver's license, Social Security card, birth certificate and high school or GED transcripts, because a diploma doesn't count in place of a transcript.
2
Take the aptitude test
In the month after you apply, UA Local 502 emails you a date and time for the aptitude test. The test covers applied math, graphic literacy, a trade-related personality assessment and a construction quiz, and you can study at workkeyspracticetest.com.
3
Interview with a panel
At the end of January, UA Local 502 emails you whether your test scores make you eligible for an interview, and it interviews the top 100 plumber applicants. The panel is contractors and union representatives, so bring a resume, any licenses or certificates you have and letters of recommendation.
4
Wait for a contractor to select you
By the end of March, UA Local 502 emails you if a contractor selected you. If you're selected, you must pass a 10-panel drug test, and the union hall contacts you when your job with one of its contractors is ready to start.
An hour to start at UA Local 502, in the federal data
$22.98
UA Local 502 is the plumbers' and pipefitters' union program in Louisville and the largest plumber program in Kentucky. In the federal data, its recent plumber apprentices started at a median of $22.98 an hour. Its apprentices who finished recently left at a median of $40.22 an hour.
An hour to start on the UA Local 502 wage scale
$24.42
UA Local 502 pays first-year apprentices $24.42 an hour, which is 55% of the $44.25 journeyman rate, and the rate rises every year to $33.24 an hour in year 5. Benefits are paid on top of these wages. The wage scale is higher than the federal median because the scale shows this year's rates and the federal data covers several years of starts.
A year of tuition and fees in the Enzweiler Building Institute plumbing program
$4,525
The Enzweiler Building Institute in Erlanger is the school of the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, and its count includes the other trades it trains. Its plumbing program takes 2 years, with classes 2 nights a week from 6 to 9 pm for 26 weeks a year, from September to mid-April. The $4,525 includes $3,000 in tuition plus materials, books, a toolkit and OSHA-10 and CPR training.
UA Local 502 in Louisville is the largest program on the list. UA Local 502 is the union of plumbers, pipefitters and service technicians, and it takes apprentices in 3 trades: plumber, pipefitter/welder and HVAC technician.
The Kentucky Career Center's Office of Employer and Apprenticeship Services approves registered apprenticeship programs in Kentucky. The state's Kentucky Works site has a map of Kentucky's registered apprenticeship sponsors.
To apply to UA Local 502, you must be at least 17 years old. You must be 18 years old before UA Local 502 dispatches you to work, and your job depends on a satisfactory background check. If you're still in high school, upload your latest unofficial transcript, and turn in your diploma and official transcript once you graduate.
The UA Local 502 apprenticeship takes 5 years. You complete 9,000 hours on the job, or 1,800 hours a year, and at least 246 classroom hours each year. Your first year is a probation period.
As a UA Local 502 apprentice in years 1 and 2, you attend day school 1 day every other week for 8 hours. In years 3 to 5, you attend night school twice a week for 3.5 hours each time.
Tuition at UA Local 502 is $200 a year for all 5 years. On the job, you work under a journeyman, and you provide your own transportation to the job site and to school.
To work as a plumber in Kentucky, you need your own license from the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction (DHBC), and cities and counties don't issue plumbing licenses. As an apprentice, you don't need a license, but you work under the personal supervision of a licensed master or journeyman plumber. To qualify for the journeyman plumber license, you need 2 years in a row as an apprentice, or 1 year as an apprentice and a course the department approves. You must also be at least 18 years old and pass the journeyman plumber exam.
U.S. Department of Labor national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026: the programs, the apprentice counts and the 2 median wages at UA Local 502
Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, Kentucky Registered Apprenticeship Programs, elc.ky.gov, and Kentucky Works, Registered Apprenticeships: who approves apprenticeship programs in Kentucky and the sponsor map
KRS 318.010, 318.020, 318.030 and 318.140 and 815 KAR 20:030, apps.legislature.ky.gov, and the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction journeyman plumber license application (Form PLB-2): the journeyman plumber license, the years as an apprentice, the minimum age, the supervision rule for apprentices and the absence of an apprentice license and of city and county plumbing licenses
The U.S. Department of Labor data has 7 Kentucky filings whose registration numbers name a different state. No figure counts those filings. Every bar uses the same scale.
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