Women still hold only about 2% to 3% of electrician, plumber and HVAC jobs, two federal surveys show.
Women held about 2.2% of electrician jobs, 2.3% of plumber jobs and 2.0% of HVAC jobs in the U.S. in 2024, according to Census Bureau survey data. That’s roughly 1 in 45 electricians and 1 in 50 HVAC techs. Women make up about 47% of all U.S. workers, by the BLS count below.
A second federal survey puts the shares a little higher but tells the same story. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey found women were 3.5% of electricians, 3.1% of plumbers and 2.7% of HVAC mechanics in 2025. The two surveys use different samples and years, so small gaps between them are expected.
Landscaping has more women but is still mostly male: about 7.2% in the Census data and 7.9% in the BLS data.
Some states have more women electricians
State samples are small, so these numbers are rough. Maryland had the highest share of women electricians among states with enough data, at about 7% (±5 points). For plumbers, Massachusetts was highest at about 7% (±4). In several states, the survey found almost no women in these trades, which more likely reflects small samples than a true zero.
What this means if you’re a woman thinking about a trade business
Being one of a few women in a trade can be a selling point with some customers, and some public contracts set aside work for women-owned businesses. The basics are the same for everyone: a license, insurance and a plan for tools and a vehicle. See our guides to electrician insurance in Maryland, plumbing insurance in New York and HVAC insurance in Ohio.
How we got these numbers
Census figures are our count of employed civilians in occupation codes 6355 (electricians), 6442 (plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters), 7315 (HVAC mechanics and installers) and 4251 (landscaping and groundskeeping workers) in the 2024 American Community Survey public use microdata (PUMS), with 90% margins of error from 80 replicate weights. State shares are shown only where at least 80 workers were surveyed. BLS figures are 2025 annual averages from Table 11; BLS notes that 2025 averages cover 11 months because October 2025 data weren’t collected. The 2025 Census survey comes out October 29, 2026. Data pulled October 17, 2026.