Ohio Apprenticeship Programs
As of September 2026, Ohio operates one of the larger registered-apprenticeship systems in the country: 52,000 active apprentices in 1,900 programs, with completion pay near $30.50/hour.
- Active apprentices
- 52,000
- National rank
- #3 / 51
- Completion rate
- 61.4%
- Completion wage
- $31
Ohio ranks #3 - among the largest of 51 jurisdictions by active registered apprentices - about 6.2% of all U.S. registered apprentices. Its 61.4% completion rate sits 3.2 pts above the 58.2% national average, and apprentices who finish raise their pay by 82% - from $17 to $31 an hour.
Apprenticeship filing desk
Jurisdiction OH · Ohio
Ohio registered-apprenticeship filing: 52,000 active apprentices (rank 3/51), 1,900 programs, 61.4% completion.
- BOOK-MEGA 52,000
- RANK-TOP #3
- PROG-MID 1,900
- COMP-MID 61.4%
- WAGE-STRONG +82%
- SHARE-MID 6.2%
- NEW-FY 13,000
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 Ohio sits among all 51 jurisdictions
Enrollment by jurisdiction; Ohio sits in the top tercile. Inventory size is not a quality ranking.
Ohio vs all states by active apprentices
Where this state's DOL registered-apprenticeship enrollment sits among every tracked jurisdiction
52,000 3rd of 51 higher than 48 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 Ohio'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 Ohio is a slow front door: new registrations equal just 25% of the active base, a slower pipeline than 96% of states.
A top-5 system by enrollment
52,000 active apprentices put Ohio at rank 3 of 51; its 6.2% slice of national enrollment means this one system reaches a meaningful share of every registered apprentice in the country.
Above-average completion
61.4% of apprentices finish their programs, 3.2 points above the 58.2% national average — the clearest quality signal in this filing.
Fewer, larger programs
The state's 1,900 registered programs average 27.4 apprentices each, above the 23.6 national norm — enrollment concentrates in larger sponsors rather than spreading across many small ones.
Typical wage progression
Pay runs $16.75/hour at the start and $30.50 at completion — a 82.1% progression near the 82.7% norm.
Ohio'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%
- Operating Engineer 25%
- Plumber 27%
- Carpenter 28%
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 Ohio have?
52,000 active registered apprentices — rank 3 of 51 jurisdictions — spread over about 1,900 registered programs.
What is the apprenticeship completion rate in Ohio?
61.4% — 3.2 points above the 58.2% national average, one of the stronger completion records among the states.
How much do apprentices earn in Ohio?
Entry wages average $16.75/hour, rising to about $30.50 at completion (82.1% growth).
What are the top apprenticeship trades in Ohio?
The dataset's largest registered-apprenticeship occupations for Ohio are Electrician, Plumber, Carpenter, Operating Engineer, Sheet Metal Worker — construction trades dominate registered apprenticeship in every state.
Why is Ohio's apprentice pipeline slow?
The data shows the symptom, not the cause: 13,000 new registrations against 52,000 active apprentices is a 25% intake ratio, bottom-tercile nationally. The dataset does not record why sponsors register fewer new apprentices here.
Compare other states
Where this leaves you
Use Ohio's apprenticeship numbers above to plan a specific trade path, not just compare states.
- Real wage and growth numbers weigh an apprenticeship path against a college degree. Apprenticeships vs college
- Check wage and AI exposure for a specific trade in the full occupation directory. Browse all occupations
- See which occupations are projected to add the most jobs through 2034. Fastest-growing occupations
Enrollment and completion vary by program and year; these figures come from the U.S. Department of Labor's Registered Apprenticeship data.
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).