The Highest-Paying Skilled Trades in Ontario

TL;DR. On Job Bank's Ontario figures, the best-paid trades and equipment-operator jobs run from $37.00 an hour to $56.09 an hour at the median. The trades behind those numbers are entered through an apprenticeship that typically takes years, paid along the way. The median is for experienced workers, so it is the destination, not the first pay cheque.

Which skilled trades pay the most in Ontario?

Job Bank's Ontario medians put railway and yard locomotive engineers first at $56.09 an hour, then power system electricians and steamfitters. In all, 12 trades and equipment-operator jobs have a median of $37.00 or more, out of 44 on the list. These are medians for experienced workers across the province, not what an apprentice earns in a first year.

Job Bank (Employment and Social Development Canada, from Statistics Canada data), Ontario pages read 5 October 2026. The 44 jobs in the trades, transport and equipment-operator groups of the national occupation codes that Job Bank says usually need a college programme or an apprenticeship, with an hourly wage and at least 500 people employed, ranked by median hourly pay. Supervisors, contractors and pilots are left out. For the whole ranked list, see the best trades careers in Ontario.

What the table shows

• The gap between first and twelfth is $19.09 an hour. Railway and yard locomotive engineers is at $56.09 an hour; heating, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics is at $37.00 an hour.
• Outlook is not the same across the twelve. Job Bank rates 6 as good or very good, 5 as moderate and 1 as limited (electrical mechanics).
• Even inside one job, pay spreads widely. Elevator constructors and mechanics runs from $20.00 at the low end to $68.00 at the high end, around a median of $43.50 an hour.
• Pay and size are different things. Heating, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanics has the most people working in it of the twelve (22,350), while railway and yard locomotive engineers has the fewest (1,700). Job Bank reports women at under 5% in 9 of the 12.

What do these trades actually involve?

Below are the best-paid trades on the table that have a Skilled Trades Ontario trade page, in order of pay. Each card shows only what that trade's page states: the trade code, whether it is compulsory, the Red Seal listing and the apprenticeship hours. Where a page does not say, the card is silent.

What compulsory means.Skilled Trades Ontario's pages say that for a compulsory trade, you must hold a registered training agreement or a certificate of qualification to practise it legally in Ontario. For a non-compulsory trade, certification is voluntary. For a wider look at the trades, see the trades hub.

Do you get paid while you learn?

Yes. Ontario's apprenticeship page says apprentices take classes, learn the trade by working under experienced workers and get paid while they do it. Skilled Trades Ontario says the same. Neither page states a wage rate or a percentage of a journeyperson's pay, so what you earn depends on your employer and trade.

The pay figures in the table above are Job Bank's medians for working tradespeople. They are not apprentice wages.

How do you get into one of these trades?

You find a sponsor, usually an employer, sign a training agreement with them and register as an apprentice with Skilled Trades Ontario. You then log on-the-job hours and complete in-school training, and finish with a Certificate of Apprenticeship. Many people then sit a certifying exam for a Certificate of Qualification.

1. Check you qualify. You must be at least 16, allowed to work in Canada and meet the trade's education requirement, and you need a sponsor in Ontario.
2. Find a sponsor. Skilled Trades Ontario lists guidance counsellors, college career centres, Employment Ontario, unions, trade associations and local businesses as places to start.
3. Apply. People 18 and over apply online. Applicants under 18 submit a paper form by email or mail with a parent or guardian's signature.
4. Sign the training agreement. Once approved, signing it with your sponsor registers you as an apprentice.
5. Download your logbook, which records the skills and tasks you need to master, and log your hours as you go.

Skilled Trades Ontario says about 80% of an apprenticeship is on the job and about 20% is in the classroom, and that programs typically run two to five years. On the pages above, the school share varies by trade. Read more in the apprenticeship guide for parents, and see one trade in detail inhow to become an electrician in Ontario.

If you are still in high school, OYAP lets students begin apprenticeship training while still in high school, and a Specialist High Skills Major lets you focus on a sector such as construction. Ask your guidance counsellor which your school offers.

What should you know before choosing for the pay?

Pay is one reason to pick a trade. It is a weak one on its own. The medians describe experienced workers across Ontario, outlook differs from trade to trade, and the work itself decides whether you will want to do it for years. Use the pay to build a shortlist, then test the trades.

• Medians are for experienced workers across the province.Pay differs by region, employer, season and whether the work is union or non-union, and none of that is in Job Bank's single number.
• Outlook differs. Job Bank rates electrical mechanics as limited for 2025 to 2027, even though it is in the top twelve for pay. A weaker outlook means more competition for each place, so start looking for an employer early. Outlook is a forecast, not a promise.
• Top pay can take years. The hours on the cards run from about three to five years of apprenticeship before you are fully certified, and the best-paid groups, such as supervisors and contractors, are left out of the table because people reach them later.
• The work can be physically demanding. Try it before you commit: a job shadow, a co-op placement or an OYAP placement shows you more than a pay number does.
• Not every row is a Skilled Trades Ontario trade. Job Bank groups some jobs with the trades that we could not match to a trade page, so they have no card above: railway and yard locomotive engineers, power system electricians, aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors and electrical mechanics. Check how each one is entered before you plan around it.

Nobody can promise you a wage or a job. What the numbers can do is show you where the pay is, so you can ask better questions of an employer, a counsellor or a person who works in the trade.