Commercial HVAC pays more. That's the short answer — and if you spend five minutes on r/HVAC, you'll see that consensus repeated constantly. But the longer answer is more interesting, because "more money" doesn't tell you about the pay cut you might take in year one of the switch, the on-call nights you'll stop dreading, or why some of the highest-earning techs in the country are still running residential service trucks.
This piece looks at the actual numbers, the day-to-day differences, and what the career ceiling looks like on each side. If you're 2-5 years in and trying to decide which direction to push, this is the comparison that job boards and vocational schools don't put together.
The Salary Gap Is Real — Here's What the Numbers Actually Say
The BLS put the national median for HVAC mechanics and installers at $59,810 per year ($28.75/hour) in May 2024. That's the blended figure across all HVAC work — residential installs, commercial service, light industrial, everything.
The split between sectors is where it gets useful.
Residential service technicians cluster in the $25-$36/hour range once they have 3-5 years under their belt. Top earners in strong markets hit $38-$42/hour, and that top-end number gets inflated by spiff commissions on equipment sales — some shops pay $500-$1,500 per system replacement close. The base hourly without commission is typically $28-$34 at a well-run residential shop.
Commercial HVAC technicians start similar — often $22-$28/hour coming out of an apprenticeship — but the ceiling is noticeably higher. Journeyman commercial techs with 5+ years average $33-$45/hour depending on market and specialization. The data from HouseCallPro's 2026 commercial salary guide puts the national average at $31/hour ($65,448/year), with senior techs at 4+ years averaging $52/hour in some markets.
The gap at the specialist level is where commercial pulls significantly ahead. Controls and building automation system (BAS) technicians — the people who program and service the Siemens, Johnson Controls, and Trane control networks in large buildings — regularly earn $60,000-$80,000 and climb from there. Industrial refrigeration specialists working ammonia systems and large-tonnage chillers can reach $70,000-$100,000+ in the right markets. That ceiling doesn't exist in residential work.
City-Specific Numbers
National medians tell part of the story. Here's what the market actually looks like in three major Sun Belt metros:
Houston, TX: The commercial tech market here is propped up by petrochemical and industrial demand. Commercial HVAC technicians average $60,665/year according to Salary.com data. The residential market runs close — Houston's residential service market is strong — but commercial and industrial work adds overtime and premium pay that pushes annual totals higher for experienced techs.
Dallas–Fort Worth, TX: Commercial techs average around $60,774/year at the median, with master-level techs reaching $68,000+. Dallas-Fort Worth has one of the more active commercial construction markets in the country, which keeps demand for journeyman commercial techs consistently high.
Phoenix, AZ: Commercial service technicians in Phoenix average $71,114/year according to ZipRecruiter data, with top earners clearing $94,000. Phoenix is an interesting market — the brutal summer heat makes residential on-call work genuinely punishing, which partly explains why experienced techs there are willing to trade commission potential for the steadier commercial schedule.
What the Work Actually Looks Like Day to Day
The salary difference doesn't happen in a vacuum. The two tracks involve genuinely different kinds of work.
Residential: Homes, Attics, Customers, and Commission
A residential service tech's day is a series of individual calls — a no-cool here, a tune-up there, a new system quote somewhere else. You're in people's homes. You're crawling through attics in August in Texas where the ambient temperature sits at 140 degrees. You're explaining to a homeowner why their 14-year-old R-22 unit can't be cheaply repaired and why a new Carrier system is the right move.
The customer-facing piece is constant and matters more than most people in the trade acknowledge. A good residential tech who can communicate clearly, build trust, and present options without being pushy will out-earn a technically superior tech who struggles to connect with homeowners. Sales is baked into the residential model — most shops are honest about this.
The equipment is smaller and less complex. A 3-ton split system is something a competent tech can diagnose and repair in two hours. That simplicity is also what makes residential a faster path to running your own operation — the capital requirements are lower, the client relationships are direct, and you can build a route with 200 service agreement customers and have a viable small business.
The physical demands are specific: crawlspaces, attics, tight mechanical rooms, and the occasional basement that hasn't been updated since 1978. Not brutal, but not comfortable either.
Commercial: Rooftops, Chillers, Building Engineers, and Contracts
A commercial tech's day looks different. You're probably starting at one property and staying there — a shopping center, a hospital, an office tower, a school. The equipment is larger and more complex. You might be working a 75-ton rooftop unit, a chiller plant, a VRF system serving 40 zones, or a cooling tower that feeds half a building. The diagnostic work is more involved, the stakes of a mistake are higher, and the building engineers or facilities managers you're dealing with are usually technically literate enough to know when you're guessing.
The rooftop reality is worth mentioning directly. Commercial tech forums are full of people who swapped out crawlspaces for rooftops and found the trade not quite what they expected — you're still in the elements, but instead of an attic you're on a gravel ballast roof in July with no shade. The physical demands are different, not absent.
Customer interaction is less intensive. You're not selling a homeowner on a system replacement during an emergency call. You're typically working against a planned maintenance schedule, reporting to a facilities contact, and documenting your work for service contract purposes. Some techs find this a relief. Others miss the variety and direct relationship of residential work.
The systems themselves reward depth over breadth. A commercial chiller tech who knows Trane Tracer controls cold is worth more every year they stay in that specialization.
Career Ceiling: Where Each Path Tops Out
This is the real conversation.
In residential, the ceiling for a service technician role — as an employee — is roughly $35-$42/hour in most markets. A small number of top residential techs in high-cost metros clear $45/hour, but that's the exception. The path beyond that hourly ceiling is ownership. Experienced residential techs with customer relationships and a van can launch a service company with relatively modest startup costs. The opportunity is real, and the HVAC industry has a lot of successful small businesses that started exactly this way.
In commercial, the employee ceiling is higher and climbs further with specialization. A journeyman commercial tech maxes out around $40-$45/hour at most shops. The next level — controls, BAS programming, refrigeration specialty — pushes into $45-$55/hour. Above that, you're moving into service manager, project management, or engineering roles where total compensation crosses six figures.
The ownership path in commercial is longer and more capital-intensive. Commercial contracts require bonding, more substantial equipment, and relationships that take years to build. Residential is genuinely more accessible for independent operators.
Neither path is wrong. The techs who make the most money long-term are often the ones who stayed in one lane long enough to become genuinely difficult to replace.
Schedule: The Difference Nobody Talks About Enough
This one actually drives career decisions more than people admit.
Residential service runs on customer availability. Emergencies happen on Friday nights in July when a family's AC goes down with a newborn in the house. On-call rotations are standard at most residential shops. During peak season, 50-60 hour weeks are normal. A tech who's good with overtime can build serious annual income this way — but it comes at a cost to evenings, weekends, and predictability.
Commercial leans toward planned maintenance and business-hours scheduling. The work is organized around service contracts, not emergency calls. A 7 AM to 4 PM schedule, Monday through Friday, is standard at property management and facility maintenance accounts. Emergency calls happen — a chiller going down at a data center is a genuine emergency — but the on-call burden is generally lighter than in residential.
This isn't abstract. A tech with school-age kids who coaches little league on weekends is going to weight that schedule differently than someone in their early 20s who wants the overtime. Both responses are rational.
Certifications: What Changes Between the Two Tracks
Both paths start in the same place. EPA 608 certification is required for anyone handling refrigerants regardless of sector. A state HVAC license (required in most states) doesn't distinguish between commercial and residential work. NATE Core certification is relevant across both sides — see our NATE certification guide for the breakdown on that exam.
Where they diverge is in the specialty certifications that actually move compensation.
On the residential side, NATE specialty certifications in air conditioning or heat pump service, combined with manufacturer training from Carrier, Trane, or Lennox, cover most of what a tech needs. Some states require a contractor's license for supervisory or business owner roles.
Commercial pushes into additional territory. HVAC Excellence's commercial service certification is recognized across the industry. Chiller certification — most manufacturers run their own programs — matters for anyone working large-tonnage equipment. Building automation is its own ecosystem: Siemens, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, Trane, and Automated Logic all have product-specific training paths, and becoming proficient in even one of those platforms makes a tech significantly more valuable to commercial service firms.
Industrial refrigeration (ammonia, CO2 systems) is a separate track again — it carries its own safety certifications and regulatory requirements under OSHA's PSM standard. The techs who pursue that path often end up with the highest earning potential in the entire trade.
Switching From Residential to Commercial: What the Transition Actually Costs
This is the question that comes up constantly from techs who are 5 years deep in residential and wondering if they left money on the table.
The honest answer: transitioning is doable, but it's not free, and it's not immediate.
Commercial shops want to see experience with commercial equipment. If your background is entirely residential split systems and package units, you're coming in knowing less about chillers, cooling towers, VRF multi-zone systems, and commercial controls than a journeyman who's been doing it for three years. Most commercial shops will acknowledge residential experience and put you through internal training, but you're likely starting at a journeyman wage rather than a senior rate — which could mean a temporary pay cut of $3-$7/hour from what you were making as a seasoned residential tech.
The practical path: look for commercial service shops that are willing to hire experienced residential techs and train up on commercial equipment. Some of the best commercial techs started in residential and crossed over at 5-7 years. The diagnostic fundamentals — refrigeration cycle, electrical troubleshooting, psychrometrics — transfer directly. What doesn't transfer is familiarity with large equipment, controls systems, and the specific failure modes of commercial machinery. That part takes 18-24 months to genuinely get comfortable with.
It's also worth knowing that some specialties — light commercial rooftop units, VRF residential-scale systems — sit right on the border between the two sectors. Working that territory can be a natural bridge. A tech comfortable with multi-zone mini-split systems and commercial split systems has a reasonable on-ramp to larger commercial work.
Browse commercial HVAC jobs near you to see what experience levels employers in your market are actually asking for — the requirements vary a lot by region and company.
The Ownership Question: Which Path Gets You There Faster?
If running your own company is the goal, the two paths look different.
Residential HVAC is genuinely one of the more accessible skilled-trades businesses to start. A service tech with a van, a good set of tools, an EPA card, a state license, and a list of 50 customers they've built relationships with over five years can launch a solo operation. Startup costs are real — van, tools, insurance, bonding, license fees — but they're not prohibitive. The residential market is also the one where a single tech with strong word-of-mouth in a suburban market can build a steady operation without commercial contracts or competitive bidding.
Commercial business ownership is higher ceiling but harder to reach. Commercial clients want bonded companies with proven track records. Building service contracts require competitive bids. The capital requirements for a commercial operation — multiple vans, specialized equipment, bonding capacity — are higher. Many commercial shop owners came out of the industry after 15+ years as techs or project managers with an established client network before going independent.
Neither path is a wrong choice for someone who wants to own a business. The residential route gets you there faster. The commercial route, for the techs who pursue it, often leads to larger contracts and higher revenue per job.
The Straight Answer
Commercial HVAC pays more on average — roughly 15-20% more in base wages, and significantly more at the specialist level. The BLS median of $59,810 across all HVAC work skews toward the residential and light commercial market. A senior commercial tech in a decent market earns $40-$50/hour. A controls or refrigeration specialist earns more.
Residential pays less per hour in most markets, but it has a faster path to commission income, a more accessible route to ownership, and — in strong residential markets — experienced techs who close equipment sales are making real money. The on-call burden is heavier, but the customer relationships are more direct and the startup costs for independent operation are lower.
If you're 2-5 years in and deciding, the question to ask yourself isn't just "which pays more?" It's: Do you want to go deep on complex commercial systems and climb a technical ladder? Or do you want the residential path toward owning your own shop within five years? Both are viable. The best outcomes belong to techs who pick one and commit to it long enough to become genuinely good at it.
If you're ready to see what's actually available in your market, browse residential HVAC jobs or commercial HVAC jobs — and use the salary explorer to check what employers in your city are actually posting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does commercial HVAC pay more than residential?
On average, yes. Commercial HVAC technicians earn roughly 15-20% more in base wages than residential techs nationally. The gap is wider at the specialist level — controls and refrigeration specialists can earn $45-$55/hour or more, a ceiling that residential service work doesn't reach.
What is the average commercial HVAC technician salary?
The national average for commercial HVAC technicians sits between $65,000 and $66,000 annually based on 2024-2025 data, or around $31/hour. Experienced senior techs reach $45-$52/hour in strong markets, and industrial/refrigeration specialists go higher.
What is the average residential HVAC technician salary?
Residential HVAC service technicians average $28-$34/hour in most markets, with top earners in high-demand metros hitting $38-$42/hour. Commission-based pay for equipment sales can push annual income higher for techs at shops that pay spiffs.
Is it hard to switch from residential to commercial HVAC?
It's doable but takes 18-24 months to get fully comfortable. You'll likely start at journeyman wages, which may be lower than what you earned as a senior residential tech. The refrigeration fundamentals and electrical troubleshooting transfer — familiarity with commercial equipment, chillers, and controls systems takes time to build.
Which HVAC specialty pays the most?
Industrial refrigeration (ammonia, CO2, large-tonnage chillers) and building automation system (BAS/controls) technicians consistently top the pay scale, reaching $70,000-$100,000+ for experienced specialists. These roles require additional certifications and years of focused experience.
Does residential HVAC have better hours than commercial?
Commercial HVAC typically offers more predictable schedules — 7 AM to 4 PM, Monday through Friday is common at commercial service accounts. Residential service carries heavier on-call responsibility, more evening and weekend emergency calls, and 50-60 hour weeks during peak summer season.
Can you make good money in residential HVAC?
Yes, especially if commission-based pay for equipment sales is part of your compensation. Experienced residential techs in strong markets earn $35-$42/hour. More importantly, residential is the faster path to running your own shop — the capital requirements to go independent in residential are significantly lower than in commercial.
What certifications do commercial HVAC techs need?
EPA 608 and state licensure apply across both sectors. Commercial techs additionally benefit from HVAC Excellence commercial service certification, manufacturer-specific chiller training, and building automation system training from major controls vendors (Siemens, Johnson Controls, Trane, Honeywell). Industrial refrigeration adds OSHA PSM compliance and specialized refrigerant handling certifications.