Missouri Apprenticeship Programs
As of September 2026, Missouri fields 12,500 active apprentices across 510 registered programs, a mid-sized system with 60.1% completion.
- Active apprentices
- 12,500
- National rank
- #23 / 51
- Completion rate
- 60.1%
- Completion wage
- $29
Missouri ranks #23 of 51 jurisdictions by active registered apprentices - about 1.5% of all U.S. registered apprentices. Its 60.1% completion rate sits 1.9 pts above the 58.2% national average, and apprentices who finish raise their pay by 83% - from $16 to $29 an hour.
Apprenticeship filing desk
Jurisdiction MI · Missouri
Missouri registered-apprenticeship filing: 12,500 active apprentices (rank 23/51), 510 programs, 60.1% completion.
- BOOK-MID 12,500
- RANK-MID #23
- PROG-MID 510
- COMP-MID 60.1%
- WAGE-STRONG +83%
- SHARE-SMALL 1.5%
- NEW-FY 3,200
Nearest enrollment peer: Tennessee (500 apprentice gap)
U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship filing stamps for this jurisdiction. Read: future proof careers
Where Missouri sits among all 51 jurisdictions
Enrollment by jurisdiction with Missouri marked mid-field. Inventory size is not a quality ranking.
Missouri vs all states by active apprentices
Where this state's DOL registered-apprenticeship enrollment sits among every tracked jurisdiction
12,500 23rd of 51 higher than 28 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 Missouri'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 Missouri is a slow front door: new registrations equal just 25.6% of the active base, a slower pipeline than 76% of states.
Completion near the average
A 60.1% completion rate holds within two points of the national average (58.2%).
Where the scale sits
12,500 active apprentices rank 23 of 51 nationally, 1.5% of all registered enrollment.
Middle-of-the-road program size
510 registered programs at 24.5 apprentices per program lands in the middle tercile of states; program structure is not what distinguishes this system.
Typical wage progression
Pay runs $15.75/hour at the start and $28.80 at completion — a 82.9% progression near the 82.7% norm.
Missouri'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 Missouri have?
Missouri reports about 12,500 active registered apprentices in 510 programs, ranking 23 of 51 jurisdictions.
What is the apprenticeship completion rate in Missouri?
Roughly 60.1%, effectively at the national average of 58.2%.
How much do apprentices earn in Missouri?
Entry wages average $15.75/hour, rising to about $28.80 at completion (82.9% growth).
What are the top apprenticeship trades in Missouri?
The dataset's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations for Missouri are Electrician, Plumber, Pipefitter, Carpenter, Sheet Metal Worker — construction trades dominate registered apprenticeship in every state.
Why is Missouri's apprentice pipeline slow?
The data shows the symptom, not the cause: 3,200 new registrations against 12,500 active apprentices is a 25.6% intake ratio, bottom-tercile nationally. The dataset does not record why sponsors register fewer new apprentices here.
Put these numbers to use
Use Missouri'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
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).