The short answer
Restoration technician pay sits around a $56,430 mean annual wage nationally for hazardous materials removal workers, the federal occupation that covers mould and asbestos abatement, with a median of $49,450 as of May 2025. Entry-level water technicians typically earn below that; certified estimators and project managers above it.
Key takeaways
- The federal occupation code covering this work is 47-4041, Hazardous Materials Removal Workers, which explicitly includes mould remediation.
- Mean national pay was $56,430 in May 2025, median $49,450, with 51,710 people employed.
- State pay varies widely. Texas mean was $47,590, well below the national figure.
- Certification is the main lever an individual technician controls.
Published salary figures for restoration technicians come mostly from job-board aggregates that reflect advertised rather than actual pay. The federal wage survey is a better anchor, and it is free.
What the federal data says
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a ‘restoration technician’ occupation. The closest and most relevant code is 47-4041, Hazardous Materials Removal Workers, whose federal definition explicitly includes cleaning mould-contaminated sites alongside asbestos and lead work.
| Measure | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Employed nationally | 51,710 | May 2025 estimate, SOC 47-4041 |
| Mean annual wage | $56,430 | May 2025 |
| Median annual wage | $49,450 | May 2025 |
| Texas mean annual wage | $47,590 | May 2025, state estimate |
The gap between the mean and the median is the interesting part. A mean roughly $7,000 above the median indicates a tail of higher-paid specialists pulling the average up, which matches what the trade looks like: a large base of technicians and a smaller group of certified estimators, project managers and supervisors.
What this occupation code does and does not capture
- It covers mould, asbestos and lead abatement work directly.
- It does not cleanly capture water mitigation technicians, many of whom are recorded under construction labourer codes.
- It excludes estimators and adjusters, who sit in separate occupations.
- It reports wages, not total compensation, so overtime patterns and on-call premiums common in catastrophe response are not visible in the headline figure.
What moves an individual’s pay
Certification is the lever most within a technician’s control. The IICRC certification path runs from single-discipline certifications such as water damage restoration and applied structural drying up to master designations, and carriers and programme work frequently use certification level as a filter. Estimating capability, specifically competence in the platform the carrier uses, tends to be the step that separates technician pay from project manager pay.
Questions people actually ask
How much do restoration technicians make?
Federal data for hazardous materials removal workers, the occupation covering mould and abatement work, shows a $56,430 mean and $49,450 median annual wage as of May 2025. Entry-level water technicians typically start below that.
Is restoration a good career?
It is stable work with a clear certification ladder and consistent demand, and federal disaster declarations produced over 16,000 county-level restoration events between 2015 and 2025. It is also physically demanding, frequently on call, and surge-driven in many states.
What certification pays most in restoration?
Estimating competence and project management certification generally separate higher earners from technician pay, because they move you from performing work to scoping and pricing it.
Which state pays restoration technicians most?
State means vary widely and the federal survey publishes them individually. Texas, despite having the largest volume of disaster declarations, had a mean of $47,590, below the national figure.
Sources
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, SOC 47-4041 Hazardous Materials Removal Workers, May 2025 estimates. National: 51,710 employed, $56,430 mean annual wage, $49,450 median. Texas mean: $47,590. Retrieved 23 September 2026 via the BLS public API.
- Event counts referenced in the FAQ are from our Restoration Demand Index, built from FEMA disaster declarations.