For parents and students · Launch League blog
Jobs that pay well without a degree in Ontario: a career coach's guide
By Nick Gonzalez, founder, U.S. Air Force veteranPublished
The short answer
Plenty of Ontario jobs pay well without a university degree, but almost none need nothing. In Job Bank's Ontario data, steamfitters and pipefitters earn a median of $45.96 an hour and powerline workers $45.00, after a paid apprenticeship of four to five years. Others need a college diploma or a licence exam.
The name-the-ticket test
Before you call any job a “no degree” job, name the ticket: the apprenticeship, certificate, exam or permit that stands between a teenager and the median wage, and how many years it takes. If you can't name the ticket, you don't know the job yet, and you shouldn't be choosing it.
What “without a degree” actually means
When people search for jobs that pay well without a degree, they usually mean without four years of university. That is a real and good option. It is not the same as a job you can walk into after high school with nothing.
Almost every well-paid job on the lists below has a ticket. Some are apprenticeships, where you are hired first and then trained on the job for four or five years, with blocks of classroom time. Some are a one- or two-year college program followed by an exam. Some are a licensing exam you can only sit at a certain age or after a certain number of hours.
The good news is that most of those routes pay you while you learn, or cost far less than a degree. The honest news is that a teenager who hates studying will still study, just in a shop, a truck or a clinic.
Jobs that pay well without a degree in Ontario: the Job Bank numbers
These are median hourly wages for Ontario from Job Bank, the Government of Canada's labour market site (2023-2024 data, updated 19 November 2025). Median means half the people in the job earn more and half earn less. Each line names the ticket, read from Skilled Trades Ontario, the College of Nurses of Ontario or Transport Canada.
- Steamfitters, pipefitters and sprinkler system installers: $45.96 an hour. Ticket: the Steamfitter apprenticeship, 9,000 hours (about five years), 8,280 of them on the job and 720 in school.
- Electrical power line and cable workers: $45.00 an hour. Ticket: the Powerline Technician apprenticeship, 8,000 hours (about four years), 7,680 of them on the job.
- Industrial electricians: $40.50 an hour. Ticket: the Industrial Electrician apprenticeship, 9,000 hours (about five years), 8,160 on the job and 840 in school.
- Crane operators: $40.48 an hour. Ticket: the Hoisting Engineer – Mobile Crane Operator 1 apprenticeship, 6,000 hours (about three years).
- Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors: $38.00 an hour. Ticket: a Transport Canada aircraft maintenance engineer licence, which needs approved basic training, 48 months of maintenance experience for the M ratings, and a minimum age of 21.
- Electricians (construction): $34.00 an hour. Ticket: the Electrician – Construction and Maintenance apprenticeship, 9,000 hours. It is a compulsory trade, so you need a training agreement or a Certificate of Qualification to do the work legally.
- Licensed practical nurses (registered practical nurses in Ontario): $31.00 an hour. Ticket: a practical nursing diploma, which the College of Nurses of Ontario sets as the minimum, then the REx-PN registration exam. A college diploma, not a university degree.
PipefitterPowerline workerIndustrial electricianCrane operatorAircraft maintenance engineerElectricianRegistered practical nurseThe highest-paying trades in Ontario
Why the median isn't what a teenager earns next year
Every number above is a median for people already doing the job, most of them with years behind them. An apprentice in the first year earns less than that, and a new graduate starts near the bottom of the range. The pay climbs as the hours and the tickets pile up.
That matters for two reasons. First, the comparison with university is not first pay against first pay, it is five or ten years of earnings, debt and experience against each other. Second, a teenager who expects the median on day one quits in month three. Tell them the real starting point and the real ladder, and the ones who stay are the ones who knew.
The numbers also hide the work itself: storms, night shifts, heights, cold mornings. High pay is often pay for conditions.
The name-the-ticket test
I spent eight years running operations at a company of more than a hundred people, and a lot of that time went into turning co-op students into apprentices and tradespeople into supervisors. The ones who made it through were rarely the most talented. They were the ones who knew, from the first week, exactly what they were working toward: which ticket, how many hours, which exam, and roughly when.
So before any family calls a job a “no degree” option, I ask them to name the ticket. Not “something in the trades”. The specific apprenticeship or certificate, the hours or years it takes, the age you can start, and who signs off. If you can't fill that in, read the job page, then ask somebody who holds the ticket. Usually one conversation does it.
- What is the ticket called, exactly?
- Who has to hire or sponsor you before it starts?
- How many hours or years, and how much of it is in a classroom?
- Is there a minimum age, an exam or a driving requirement?
- What does a first-year person actually earn, and when does that change?
Who should not chase these jobs
A well-paid trade is a bad choice for a teenager who is choosing it only for the money. The work is physical and often outdoors. Line work and crane work mean heights. Nursing means weekends, nights and bodily fluids. Trucking means time away from home. Aircraft maintenance means paperwork that has to be perfect, every time.
Picture an ordinary Tuesday in the job, not the best day. If the Tuesday sounds fine, the money is a bonus. If the Tuesday sounds miserable, no wage fixes it for long.
What to do this month
A checklist a parent and teenager can start tonight:
- Pick two jobs from the list that sound tolerable on a Tuesday, not just well paid.
- Read both job pages in the free career library, including the parts about who should not do the job.
- Fill in the five ticket questions for each one. Leave blanks where you don't know.
- Find one person who holds each ticket and ask for fifteen minutes. Bring the blanks.
- Take the free Future Finder quiz if neither job fits, to widen the list before you narrow it.
When coaching is and isn't the answer
If your teenager already knows the trade they want and has someone in the family who does it, you don't need a coach. You need a phone call to that person and an application.
Coaching earns its fee when a teenager is undecided, when every conversation at home turns into an argument, or when the family doesn't know anyone who does the work. The Future Ready Sprint is six weeks of one-to-one coaching over video for $1,295 plus HST, built around a written plan and at least two conversations with people in the field. If the first two sessions aren't worth it, you get the whole fee back.
Questions
Quick answers
- Is an apprenticeship really a job without a degree?
- Yes, if you mean without a university degree. You are hired, paid and trained on the job, with blocks of classroom time. It is not without study: there are in-school hours, exams and, for many trades, a final certification. Treat it as a paid education rather than a shortcut.
- What is the highest-paying job you can get without a degree?
- In Job Bank's Ontario data, among the trades on this page, steamfitters and pipefitters lead at a median of $45.96 an hour, just ahead of powerline workers at $45.00. Supervisors and contractors in the trades earn more again, but those jobs come after years in the trade, not instead of them.
- Can my teenager start at 16?
- In Ontario you can register as an apprentice at 16 with a sponsor, according to Skilled Trades Ontario, and OYAP lets students in Grade 11 or 12 start trade placements through co-op from 15. Some jobs set higher ages, such as 21 for an aircraft maintenance engineer licence.
- Do these wages change by region?
- Yes. A provincial or state median hides big local differences, and union, non-union and company size all matter. Use the median to compare jobs with each other, then ask local employers what they pay a first-year person before you plan around a number.
- Is a college diploma or certificate a degree?
- No. A one- or two-year college certificate or diploma is a different credential from a bachelor's degree. Several well-paid jobs, practical nursing among them, need one. It still costs time and money, so compare it with an apprenticeship, which usually pays you while you train.
Next step
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Sources: Job Bank: Steamfitters, pipefitters and sprinkler system installers, wages in Ontario · Job Bank: Electrical power line and cable workers, wages in Ontario · Job Bank: Industrial electricians, wages in Ontario · Job Bank: Crane operators, wages in Ontario · Job Bank: Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors, wages in Ontario · Job Bank: Electricians (except industrial and power system), wages in Ontario · Job Bank: Licensed practical nurses, wages in Ontario · Skilled Trades Ontario: Starting your apprenticeship · Skilled Trades Ontario: What parents need to know · Skilled Trades Ontario: Steamfitter · Skilled Trades Ontario: Powerline Technician · Skilled Trades Ontario: Industrial Electrician · Skilled Trades Ontario: Hoisting Engineer – Mobile Crane Operator 1 · Skilled Trades Ontario: Electrician – Construction and Maintenance · Transport Canada: Canadian AME licensing general information · College of Nurses of Ontario: Education requirement · College of Nurses of Ontario: RPN registration examinations (REx-PN) · Ontario: Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program. Coaching is not therapy, medical, legal or financial advice.