New York Apprenticeship Programs
As of September 2026, New York operates one of the larger registered-apprenticeship systems in the country: 44,000 active apprentices in 1,650 programs, with completion pay near $36.50/hour.
- Active apprentices
- 44,000
- National rank
- #5 / 51
- Completion rate
- 57.3%
- Completion wage
- $37
New York ranks #5 - among the largest of 51 jurisdictions by active registered apprentices - about 5.2% of all U.S. registered apprentices. Its 57.3% completion rate sits 0.9 pts below the 58.2% national average, and apprentices who finish raise their pay by 92% - from $19 to $37 an hour.
Apprenticeship filing desk
Jurisdiction NE · New York
New York registered-apprenticeship filing: 44,000 active apprentices (rank 5/51), 1,650 programs, 57.3% completion.
- BOOK-LARGE 44,000
- RANK-UPPER #5
- PROG-MID 1,650
- COMP-MID 57.3%
- WAGE-STRONG +92%
- SHARE-MID 5.2%
- NEW-FY 11,500
Nearest enrollment peer: Pennsylvania (4,000 apprentice gap)
U.S. Department of Labor registered-apprenticeship filing stamps for this jurisdiction. Read: apprenticeships vs college
Where New York sits among all 51 jurisdictions
Enrollment by jurisdiction; New York sits in the top tercile. Inventory size is not a quality ranking.
New York vs all states by active apprentices
Where this state's DOL registered-apprenticeship enrollment sits among every tracked jurisdiction
44,000 5th of 51 higher than 46 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 New York'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 the wage arc: pay grows 92.1% from start to completion, a bigger jump than in 98% of states.
A top-5 system by enrollment
44,000 active apprentices put New York at rank 5 of 51; its 5.2% slice of national enrollment means this one system reaches a meaningful share of every registered apprentice in the country.
Fewer, larger programs
The state's 1,650 registered programs average 26.7 apprentices each, above the 23.6 national norm — enrollment concentrates in larger sponsors rather than spreading across many small ones.
Completion near the average
A 57.3% completion rate holds within two points of the national average (58.2%).
Steady intake
A 26.1% intake ratio (11,500 new apprentices this fiscal year) keeps New York in the middle tercile for pipeline speed.
New York'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%
- Operating Engineer 25%
- Plumber 27%
- Elevator Mechanic 29%
- Iron Worker -
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 New York have?
44,000 active registered apprentices — rank 5 of 51 jurisdictions — spread over about 1,650 registered programs.
What is the apprenticeship completion rate in New York?
Roughly 57.3%, effectively at the national average of 58.2%.
How much do apprentices earn in New York?
Starting pay averages $19.00/hour and completion pay $36.50 — a 92.1% increase, among the strongest wage progressions of any state.
What are the top apprenticeship trades in New York?
The dataset's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations for New York are Electrician, Plumber, Iron Worker, Elevator Mechanic, Operating Engineer — construction trades dominate registered apprenticeship in every state.
Why does New York have so few programs for its size?
Because its sponsors run large: 26.7 apprentices per program on average, top-tercile nationally — the same enrollment needs fewer registered programs.
Compare other states
Where this leaves you
Use New York'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
- Check wage and AI exposure for a specific trade in the full occupation directory. 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).