Minnesota Apprenticeship Programs
As of September 2026, Minnesota operates one of the larger registered-apprenticeship systems in the country: 25,000 active apprentices in 940 programs, with completion pay near $31.50/hour.
- Active apprentices
- 25,000
- National rank
- #11 / 51
- Completion rate
- 64%
- Completion wage
- $32
Minnesota ranks #11 of 51 jurisdictions by active registered apprentices - about 3% of all U.S. registered apprentices. Its 64% completion rate sits 5.8 pts above the 58.2% national average, and apprentices who finish raise their pay by 85% - from $17 to $32 an hour.
Apprenticeship filing desk
Jurisdiction MI · Minnesota
Minnesota registered-apprenticeship filing: 25,000 active apprentices (rank 11/51), 940 programs, 64% completion.
- BOOK-LARGE 25,000
- RANK-UPPER #11
- PROG-MID 940
- COMP-HIGH 64%
- WAGE-STRONG +85%
- SHARE-MID 3%
- NEW-FY 6,200
Nearest enrollment peer: Indiana (1,000 apprentice gap)
U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship filing stamps for this jurisdiction. Read: future proof careers
Where Minnesota sits among all 51 jurisdictions
Enrollment by jurisdiction; Minnesota sits in the top tercile. Inventory size is not a quality ranking.
Minnesota vs all states by active apprentices
Where this state's DOL registered-apprenticeship enrollment sits among every tracked jurisdiction
25,000 11th of 51 higher than 40 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 Minnesota'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: intake
What separates Minnesota is a slow front door: new registrations equal just 24.8% of the active base, a slower pipeline than 98% of states.
Above-average completion
64% of apprentices finish their programs, 5.8 points above the 58.2% national average — the clearest quality signal in this filing.
Where the scale sits
25,000 active apprentices rank 11 of 51 nationally, 3% of all registered enrollment.
Fewer, larger programs
The state's 940 registered programs average 26.6 apprentices each, above the 23.6 national norm — enrollment concentrates in larger sponsors rather than spreading across many small ones.
Strong wage progression
Wages move further here than in most states: $17.00/hour at entry to $31.50 at completion, a 85.3% climb versus the 82.7% national norm.
Minnesota'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%
- Pipefitter -
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 Minnesota have?
25,000 active registered apprentices — rank 11 of 51 jurisdictions — spread over about 940 registered programs.
What is the apprenticeship completion rate in Minnesota?
64% — 5.8 points above the 58.2% national average, one of the stronger completion records among the states.
How much do apprentices earn in Minnesota?
Starting pay averages $17.00/hour and completion pay $31.50 — a 85.3% increase, among the strongest wage progressions of any state.
What are the top apprenticeship trades in Minnesota?
The dataset's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations for Minnesota are Electrician, Plumber, Carpenter, Pipefitter, Sheet Metal Worker — construction trades dominate registered apprenticeship in every state.
Why is Minnesota's apprentice pipeline slow?
The data shows the symptom, not the cause: 6,200 new registrations against 25,000 active apprentices is a 24.8% intake ratio, bottom-tercile nationally. The dataset does not record why sponsors register fewer new apprentices here.
Compare other states
Next steps here
Use Minnesota's apprenticeship numbers above to plan a specific trade path, not just compare states.
- Compare an apprenticeship path against a college degree using 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
- See which occupations are projected to add the most jobs through 2034. Fastest-growing occupations
Apprenticeship figures come from U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship data; enrollment and completion 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).