A plumber apprenticeship is a paid job with training, and you don't need experience to start one. Wisconsin has 21 registered plumber apprenticeship programs, with 3,851 apprentices in training at the latest federal count.
About $800 a week at 40 hours. The middle half of starting wages is $17.22 to $23.50 an hour.
Median pay at the end
$38.41 an hour
About $1,540 a week at 40 hours.
From 2,002 recent starting wages in 21 programs, and 1,141 people who finished recently in 21 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.
The Milwaukee Area Plumbing JAC doesn't list an application deadline, and it holds Letter of Introduction sessions every month. An application expires after 1 year with no activity. ABC of Wisconsin takes applications all year, but your materials and a company to sponsor you are due by June 30 for plumbing classes that start in August or September.
Within 30 days after you start your apprenticeship, you must register with the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) as a plumbing apprentice. The registration also has a $15 credential fee, and you renew it every year for $15 while your apprenticeship contract continues.
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: Milwaukee Area Joint Plumbing Apprenticeship Committee
Each program runs in its own way. This is how one of them takes apprentices and trains them, as its own pages describe it.
Milwaukee Area Joint Plumbing Apprenticeship Committee
1
Send your application
Register in the Plumbers 75 career portal, then print the application and mail it or bring it to the apprenticeship office at 11175 W. Parkland Ave. in Milwaukee. The office doesn't accept emailed applications, and your official transcript must come from your school, mailed by the school or in its sealed envelope.
2
Pass the entry test
Take the Accuplacer at a testing site, or send ACT scores from the last 5 years with at least 16 in reading and 15 in math. Testing sites may charge $20 to $30, and if you fail an Accuplacer section, you can retake it after 6 months or after tutoring from an approved agency.
3
Get your Letter of Introduction
Once you complete the first 3 steps, the committee invites you to a session, held once a month, where you receive your Letter of Introduction. The letter qualifies you to apply to plumbing companies for 1 year, and you get a list of some of the companies approved to train apprentices.
4
Get hired by a plumbing company
The company that hires you asks the committee to place you as an apprentice. You pass a drug test before your placement, and then you sign your apprentice contract with the committee.
Of the skilled wage rate in your first year at ABC of Wisconsin
45%
Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin (ABC of Wisconsin) lists a state skilled wage rate average of $42.12 an hour for plumbers. A first-year apprentice earns at least 45% of that rate, and the minimum rises each year to 75% in the fifth year. Benefits such as health care and retirement are paid on top of the wage.
You don't need experience to apply. In Wisconsin, you apply directly to a local apprenticeship committee for your trade, not to a single employer. The largest sponsors are ABC of Wisconsin, a contractor association, and the area plumbing committees.
Note: ABC of Wisconsin runs one statewide apprenticeship, and the federal data lists it as several programs, one for each region. The federal data lists the ABC of Wisconsin programs at a Madison address and some area committees in another city, such as the La Crosse Area Plumbing JAC in Eau Claire, so search a program's name to find where it trains apprentices.
To apply to ABC of Wisconsin, you don't need a job first. Once ABC of Wisconsin pre-qualifies you, it sends you a list of approved contractors, and you find a company that will hire you and sponsor your apprenticeship. ABC of Wisconsin has no application fee, and it charges tuition that you're responsible for, although many employers pay back at least part of it.
To apply to the Milwaukee Area Plumbing JAC (joint apprenticeship committee), you must be at least 17 years old. You must be 18 by the time a plumbing company hires you as an apprentice. You need these things to apply.
a high school diploma, GED or HSED from a state-accredited or state-approved school
an official transcript, sent from your school to the apprenticeship office
minimum scores on the Accuplacer or the ACT
a valid driver's license and reliable transportation to work and school
the legal right to work in the U.S.
The Milwaukee apprenticeship takes 5 years. You need at least 8,000 hours on the job, and your first year is a probationary period. You're paid for your day school hours, you attend more classes on your own time, usually at night, and you must keep at least 75% in every class.
Note: Plumbers Local 75 doesn't hire apprentices, so you must be hired by one of its signatory contractors (contractors that have signed an agreement with the union). Contractors hire all year, but more hiring usually happens in spring and summer.
To work as a plumber in Wisconsin, you need your own license or registration from DSPS, whoever you work for. As an apprentice, you register as a plumbing apprentice. The journeyman plumber exam is open only to people who complete a plumbing apprenticeship.
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
Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, credential fees page, and Wis: stat. 145.07 and 145.08. The plumbing apprentice registration, its fees and who can take the journeyman plumber exam
The U.S. Department of Labor data has 5 Wisconsin filings whose registration numbers name a different state. No figure counts those filings. Every bar uses the same scale.
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