OHIO · PLUMBER · UPDATED FROM FEDERAL RECORDS
How to become a plumber in Ohio: get paid to train.
You don't need experience or a plumbing job to apply at the largest program open to outside applicants, in Cincinnati: a $35 fee, an aptitude test, and an interview put you on its ranking list, and finishing its five-year apprenticeship comes with the city's own plumbing license. Ohio has 35 registered plumber apprenticeship programs, with 4,948 apprentices in training at the latest federal count. This page shows you where they are and how each application works.
01 THE PAY
How much do plumber apprentices make in Ohio?
The median starting wage was $17.60 an hour across 1,430 recent starting records: half were above it and half were below. Separately, recent completers had a median recorded wage of $27.16 an hour. These are different groups of apprentices, not the same people tracked from start to finish. The middle half of starting wages fell between $15.18 and $20.08 an hour.
The median across 1,430 recent starting records from 31 programs. The middle half earned between $15.18 and $20.08 an hour. At 40 hours a week, $17.60 works out to about $700 before taxes.
The Cincinnati plumbers' and pipefitters' training committee charges a $35 non-refundable application fee, payable by money order, certified check, or card with a 3% service fee. The fee covers one aptitude test; failing and retesting costs another $35. Starting pay for every apprentice is 52% of the journeyman scale, and the committee does not publish that scale in dollars.
The Columbus plumbers' and pipefitters' committee takes applications the old way: you pick one up in person, with photo ID, and return it within two weeks. The $60 fee, by cashier's check or money order, is waived with documentation of financial hardship. You must live in one of the eleven central Ohio counties the committee serves.
02 HOW TO APPLY
How to apply, and how long it takes
No experience needed. At the largest program open to outside applicants, you must be 18 to start, and you can apply at 17. You need a high school diploma with a 2.0 GPA, two years of math, and one year of science, or a GED scoring 450 or above. You also need a valid driver's license and your birth certificate, and your school sends transcripts directly to the committee. A criminal record does not automatically disqualify you. The bar is a felony conviction for a crime involving weapons or harm to individuals, and you can appeal in writing within 30 days.
Finishing takes five years. The Cincinnati apprenticeship is five years and at least 8,500 hours on the job, starting with a one-year probation of at least 1,700 hours. The contractor pays the collectively bargained benefits: medical insurance, pension, and paid training. Class materials are yours to buy, and you keep an annual drug card current. Finish and you receive the City of Cincinnati plumbing license, and the program says completers also receive a combination of Kentucky and Indiana licenses and medical gas and backflow certifications.
Most of the rest are union committees and association schools. The union committees in Columbus, Toledo, Cleveland, and Dayton train the next tier with participating contractors. The plumbing contractors' association school near Columbus runs the other way around: you work for a member contractor first, and its four-year program is 8,000 hours on the job. Several sponsors train electricians and plumbers side by side. Pick two or three programs near you, search each program's name with its city, and ask how and when they take applications.
Local 392's application is open all the time: tests run every other month, and selections are made once a year, around April. The Columbus committee hands out applications in person on the first Tuesday of every month, 10 am to 5 pm, and its published pickup dates run through December.
Local 392 takes applications online or in person, for one trade only. Submit the application with the $35 fee and your documents, and the committee schedules your aptitude test.
Tests run every other month at the training center, and you need a score of 75 or better. You learn whether you passed the same day; failing means another $35 to schedule the next test date. The study guide the program posts covers measurement, reading, and arithmetic, plus a visual test.
Pass, and the committee interviews you, usually about a week after the test. The interview is scored, and the score puts you on the ranking list, where your name stays for two years.
If you're selected, you pass a drug and chemical screening test to be eligible for employment, and you consent to a background check. Then you're indentured, and the five-year apprenticeship starts.
03 THE PROGRAMS
Every registered plumber apprenticeship in Ohio
All 35 programs, ranked by each sponsor's total apprentices at the latest federal count. The bar shows that total. For the 8 sponsors that train more than one trade, the count includes apprentices in their other trades as well. Ranks cover all 35 programs. Prison-run programs keep their overall rank but are listed separately below. A zero means no apprentices were recorded in training in this dataset; it does not necessarily mean the program has closed.
The biggest programs
Smaller and single-company programs
SHOW ALL 12 SMALLER PROGRAMS
Run inside state prisons
1 of the 35 programs is run by the Ohio corrections department's school system and trains people who are incarcerated. It's part of the state's count, but you cannot apply to it from outside, and none of the wage numbers above include it.
04 LICENSING
Licensing depends on where you work
Ohio has no statewide plumber license. Cities and counties issue their own, each with its own rules, and they change across a city line. Before you count on your hours, check the rules where you plan to work.
How plumber licensing works in Ohio05 SOURCES
- U.S. Department of Labor national apprenticeship data, extract of August 17, 2026. Every program, every count, and the two medians and the starting-wage band on this page.
- Plumbers, Fitters & MES Local 392 JATC application pages, online application, and selection-process document, apply.local392.com and form.jotform.com, accessed 2026-09-03. The $35 fee, the requirements, the criminal-record rule, the test cadence, and the five-year shape on this page.
- Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 189 JATC apprenticeship pages, ualocal189-jatc.com and ualocal189.com, accessed 2026-09-03. The $60 fee, the in-person pickup, the residency rule, and the pickup dates on this page.
- Association of Plumbing and Hydronic Contractors of Central Ohio, aphcofcentralohio.com, accessed 2026-09-03. The employment-first requirement and the four-year shape on this page.
- 8 Ohio filings in the source data name a different state inside their own registration numbers. They are under review, and no figure on this page counts them.
EVERY FIGURE ON THIS PAGE IS FROM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP DATA, EXTRACT OF AUGUST 17, 2026, EXCEPT THE SOURCE-MARKED RATES IN THE MONEY SECTION.