A plumber apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. To work as an apprentice in Utah, you need an apprentice plumber license from the Division of Professional Licensing (DOPL). Utah has 46 registered plumber apprenticeship programs, with 710 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
About $890 a week at 40 hours. The middle half of starting wages is $20.00 to $25.36 an hour.
Median pay at the end
$37.70 an hour
About $1,510 a week at 40 hours.
From 705 recent starting wages in 26 programs, and 390 people who finished recently in 24 programs. The 2 figures come from different groups of apprentices, not the same people followed from start to finish.
Note: The Utah Pipe Trades JATC in Salt Lake City accounts for 53.8% of the recent starting wages behind the median starting wage, so that figure mostly describes its apprentices.
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.
Get your apprentice plumber license before you start work
As an apprentice plumber in Utah, you must hold this license. You don't need experience and you don't take an exam, but your employer must sign a Verification of Supervision form for your application. The $110 application fee isn't refunded.
No program matches. Pick another area or check the spelling.
Also trains other trades: these 11 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: Utah Career Center
Each program runs in its own way. This is how one of them takes apprentices and trains them, as its own pages describe it.
Utah Career Center
1
Apply online
Fill in the Utah Career Center online application for the Plumbing, Pipefitting & Welding (PPW) program, and upload every required document, including proof of your age. The center reviews only complete applications. Send only 1 application, because a second one can delay processing.
2
Take the drug test
About 24 hours after you apply, the center emails you a Concentra drug test authorization form. Take the form to a Concentra location listed on it, pay the testing fee and take the 10-panel drug test.
3
Complete the assessment and interview
Once the center receives your negative drug test, it emails you the details of the group assessment test, an orientation session and your interview.
4
Work and attend day classes
The PPW program takes 5 years. You work full time on the job, and for 4 of those years you attend day classes 2 semesters a year, Monday through Friday from about 8 am to 5 pm.
Plumbing apprentices at the Utah Career Center start at about 55% of the journeyman rate. The center says its apprentices currently earn $25.36 an hour, plus benefits.
The plumbers' union, UA Local 140, and the Utah Mechanical Contractors Association (UMCA) run the Utah Career Center together. The center has trained apprentices since 1944.
To apply to the Utah Career Center, you must be at least 18 years old. You need a high school diploma or GED, and you must pass a 10-panel drug test with Concentra.
The Utah Career Center trains you in plumbing, pipefitting and welding together. You're trained and certified in all 3 trades in its Plumbing, Pipefitting & Welding program.
As a Utah Career Center apprentice, you complete 1,500 hours on the job each year. When you finish, you receive journey-level status and a completion certificate.
Each year of classes at the Utah Career Center has 8 weeks of 9-hour days. You complete 360 classroom hours a year, or 1,440 classroom hours over 4 years.
You pay tuition for your Utah Career Center classes to Utah State University. You register for each semester's course online, and each course costs $638. If you need to, you can set up a payment plan with Utah State University.
You can also take your classroom hours at a technical college while you work for a plumbing company. At Mountainland Technical College (MTECH), the plumbing apprenticeship classes take 4 years and cost $4,799 in all. To complete the MTECH program, you need an apprentice plumber license and you must work under a licensed master or journeyman plumber.
Note: If you applied to the Utah Career Center before and your application expired, don't apply again. Instead, ask the center to reactivate your application for the next round of interviews.
To work as a plumber in Utah, you need your own license from DOPL, and cities and counties can't require a separate plumber license. You start with the apprentice plumber license, which needs no exam. You can get the journeyman plumber license later with 8,000 hours on the job, 576 classroom hours and 2 exams.
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
Utah Division of Professional Licensing apprentice plumber, journeyman plumber and fee schedule pages, commerce.utah.gov, and Utah Code sections 58-55-301 and 58-55-302: the apprentice plumber license, the $110 fee and the journeyman plumber license
The U.S. Department of Labor data has 7 Utah filings whose registration numbers name a different state. No figure counts those filings. Every bar uses the same scale.
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