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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Heating, Air Conditioning, And Refrigeration Mechanics And Installers Salary: Idaho vs District of Columbia

Heating, Air Conditioning, And Refrigeration Mechanics And Installers earn a median of $52,730 in Idaho and $83,390 in District of Columbia. That is a nominal gap of $30,660 (-36.8%), with District of Columbia paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$52,730
Idaho median
$55,218 after COL
$83,390
District of Columbia median
$75,877 after COL
-36.8%
Nominal gap
District of Columbia leads
-27.2%
Adjusted gap
District of Columbia leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, District of Columbia pays $30,660 more per year than Idaho for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, a gap of +36.8%.

After adjusting for cost of living, District of Columbia still comes out ahead, with roughly $20,659 of extra purchasing power (+27.2% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Heating, Air Conditioning, And Refrigeration Mechanics And Installers

Idaho

Median salary
$52,730
Mean salary
$58,150
Employment
3,570
Location quotient
1.64
Jobs per 1,000
4.2
COL-adjusted median
$55,218
Regional Price Parity
95.5%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Heating, Air Conditioning, And Refrigeration Mechanics And Installers page for Idaho →

Heating, Air Conditioning, And Refrigeration Mechanics And Installers

District of Columbia

Median salary
$83,390
Mean salary
$83,780
Employment
370
Location quotient
0.20
Jobs per 1,000
0.5
COL-adjusted median
$75,877
Regional Price Parity
109.9%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Heating, Air Conditioning, And Refrigeration Mechanics And Installers page for District of Columbia →

Related pages

Keep digging into heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.