A plumber apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. Massachusetts has 53 registered plumber apprenticeship programs, with 1,733 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
Median hourly starting wage at Plumbers Local 12 in Boston
$21.62 an hour
About $860 a week at 40 hours.
From 99 people who started recently at Plumbers Local 12, the plumbers union program in Boston.
The federal data has too few plumber wage records in Massachusetts 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.
Each program takes applications in its own way. Ask each program how and when it takes applications.
Plumbers Local 12 will open its online application in January 2027, and it posts the dates on its apprenticeship application page. An application that isn't complete when the round closes is rejected, so check the page in January.
Get your apprentice plumber license before you start work
Before you start work as an apprentice, you need the apprentice plumber license from the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters. Apply online with the Statement of Employing Master Form, a notarized CORI authorization form and a passport-style photo. The $14 application fee isn't refunded.
No program matches. Pick another area or check the spelling.
Also trains other trades: these 17 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: Plumbers Local 12
Each program runs in its own way. This is how one of them takes apprentices and trains them, as its own pages describe it.
Plumbers Local 12
1
Apply online
Plumbers Local 12 takes applications online only, up to 600, in the order they arrive. Upload your documents and pay the $59 application fee by debit or credit card when you apply. The fee isn't refunded, but Plumbers Local 12 may waive it if you upload proof of financial need, such as unemployment insurance, EBT or Medicaid.
2
Take the aptitude test
Once you complete your application, Plumbers Local 12 tells you the date of your aptitude test by mail and email.
3
Interview with Plumbers Local 12
After you complete the application and the test, Plumbers Local 12 tells you the date of your interview by mail and email. Its training schedule sets the interviews in March and April.
4
Work and attend classes
Between weeks of training, you work on the job. Classes at the Plumbers Local 12 training center are in week-long blocks, Monday through Friday from 6:30 am to 3:00 pm, and you tell your foreman at least a week before each training week.
An hour to start at Plumbers Local 12, in the federal data
$21.62
Plumbers Local 12 is the plumbers union program in Boston. In the federal data, its recent plumber apprentices started at a median of $21.62 an hour. Its apprentices who finished the program left at a median of $46.34 an hour.
For each tier of evening plumbing classes at Gould Construction Institute
$1,924
Gould Construction Institute is the school of Associated Builders and Contractors of Massachusetts (ABC), and the ABC apprenticeship program offers its apprentices classes there. Each tier of its evening plumbing classes has 120 classroom hours and costs $1,924. You pay the full tuition when you register.
You don't need experience to apply. The largest sponsors are union training programs, the ABC program and companies that train their own employees. The Division of Apprentice Standards (DAS) oversees registered apprenticeships in Massachusetts, and it suggests you contact your local MassHire Career Center with questions about becoming an apprentice.
Note: Pipefitters Local 537 is the pipefitters union program in Boston. Massachusetts licenses pipefitters separately from plumbers, with an apprentice license of their own, so ask each program which license its apprenticeship leads to.
The ABC program trains apprentices for ABC member companies. The company that employs you registers you with the program, and the program offers classes at Gould Construction Institute, the education branch of ABC.
To apply to Plumbers Local 12, you must be 18 years old by the time you're accepted. Apply only once, because Plumbers Local 12 disqualifies a duplicate application. Upload these documents with your application.
a photo with a white background
your U.S. high school transcript with your graduation date, or your U.S. GED certificate and GED test results
your driver's license or state ID
your DD-214, if you served in the military
If you have questions about the application, email Plumbers Local 12. Plumbers Local 12 says no information is available by phone, so don't call the office.
The Plumbers Local 12 apprenticeship takes 5 years. Classes are at the Local 12 training center in Boston. Plumbers Local 12 says its apprentice program is drug free.
To work as a plumber in Massachusetts, you need your own license from the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, even as an apprentice. As an apprentice, you work for a master plumber. To qualify for the journeyman plumber license, you need 6,800 hours as a licensed apprentice and 550 hours of plumbing theory classes, taken over at least 4 years.
U.S. Department of Labor national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026: the programs, the apprentice counts and the 2 median wages at Plumbers Local 12
Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters apprentice plumber license page, mass.gov, 248 CMR 11.00 and Massachusetts General Laws chapter 142: the apprentice plumber license, its fee and documents, and the hours and theory classes for the journeyman plumber license
The U.S. Department of Labor data has 45 Massachusetts filings whose registration numbers name a different state. No figure counts those filings. Every bar uses the same scale.
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