Maine Apprenticeship Programs
Maine's registered-apprenticeship system is small — 4,200 active apprentices across 200 programs as of September 2026 — so its structure, not its size, is the story below.
- Active apprentices
- 4,200
- National rank
- #40 / 51
- Completion rate
- 60.5%
- Completion wage
- $28
Maine ranks #40 of 51 jurisdictions by active registered apprentices - about 0.5% of all U.S. registered apprentices. Its 60.5% completion rate sits 2.3 pts above the 58.2% national average, and apprentices who finish raise their pay by 81% - from $16 to $28 an hour.
Apprenticeship filing desk
Jurisdiction MA · Maine
Maine registered-apprenticeship filing: 4,200 active apprentices (rank 40/51), 200 programs, 60.5% completion.
- BOOK-TRACE 4,200
- RANK-LOWER #40
- PROG-SPARSE 200
- COMP-MID 60.5%
- WAGE-STRONG +81%
- SHARE-SMALL 0.5%
- NEW-FY 1,100
Nearest enrollment peer: Hawaii (300 apprentice gap)
U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship filing stamps for this jurisdiction. Read: future proof careers
Where Maine sits among all 51 jurisdictions
Enrollment by jurisdiction; Maine is marked near the small end. Inventory size is not a quality ranking.
Maine vs all states by active apprentices
Where this state's DOL registered-apprenticeship enrollment sits among every tracked jurisdiction
4,200 40th of 51 higher than 11 of 51 states
States and territories, banded by active apprentices
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship data · 2026-09-25
Source: U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship data, compiled by PlainWorkforce.
Reading Maine's numbers
What stands out in this state's DOL filing, most distinctive first. Every figure below is computed from the state's own row in the dataset.
The signature stat: wage lift
The standout metric here is a flat wage arc: 80.6% growth from start to completion, less than 80% of states manage.
Where the scale sits
4,200 active apprentices rank 40 of 51 nationally, 0.5% of all registered enrollment.
Above-average completion
60.5% of apprentices finish their programs, 2.3 points above the 58.2% national average — the clearest quality signal in this filing.
Many small programs
Enrollment is unusually distributed: 200 programs averaging 21 apprentices apiece against a 23.6 national norm. A long tail of small sponsors carries the system.
Steady intake
A 26.2% intake ratio (1,100 new apprentices this fiscal year) keeps Maine in the middle tercile for pipeline speed.
Maine's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations, ranked by AI-exposure score, most sit well below the 37% occupation-wide average (the dotted line), which is exactly why the trades are AI-resilient. Bars link to the full occupation profile where tracked.
- Electrician 13%
- Sheet Metal Worker 23%
- Plumber 27%
- Carpenter 28%
- HVAC Mechanic -
AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis of O*NET task data; the 37% line is the average across all 832 tracked occupations. Lower = more AI-resilient.
Frequently asked questions
How many apprentices does Maine have?
About 4,200 active registered apprentices, one of the smaller state totals (rank 40 of 51), in roughly 200 programs.
What is the apprenticeship completion rate in Maine?
60.5% — 2.3 points above the 58.2% national average, one of the stronger completion records among the states.
How much do apprentices earn in Maine?
Apprentices start near $15.50/hour and finish near $28.00. The 80.6% progression is flatter than in most states.
What are the top apprenticeship trades in Maine?
The dataset's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations for Maine are Electrician, Plumber, Carpenter, HVAC Mechanic, Sheet Metal Worker — construction trades dominate registered apprenticeship in every state.
How does Maine compare with neighboring systems?
On the dataset's own axes: rank 40 of 51 by enrollment, 60.5% completion, 80.6% wage progression. The comparison links below open the states adjacent in rank.
Compare other states
Next steps here
Use Maine's apprenticeship numbers above to plan a specific trade path, not just compare states.
- Weigh an apprenticeship path against a college degree with real wage and growth numbers. Apprenticeships vs college
- Browse the full occupation directory to check wage and AI exposure for a specific trade. Browse all occupations
- The occupations projected to add the most jobs through 2034 are worth a look. Fastest-growing occupations
U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship data is the source here; enrollment and completion both vary by program and year.
Every figure on PlainWorkforce is rendered directly from BLS/O*NET source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Enrollment and wage figures are rounded. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these figures, or report a data error. Data current as of U.S. Department of Labor, Registered Apprenticeship.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Registered Apprenticeship (active apprentices, registered programs, completion rates, and wages by state), O*NET (occupation task data, for the linked AI-exposure scores).