---
title: "Geothermal Technician"
description: "Perform technical activities at power plants or individual installations necessary for the generation of power from geothermal energy sources. Monitor…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/geothermal-technician"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Geothermal Technician

**Category:** Installation, Maintenance, and Repair · **SOC code:** 49-9099 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 49-9099.01

Perform technical activities at power plants or individual installations necessary for the generation of power from geothermal energy sources. Monitor and control operating activities at geothermal power generation facilities and perform maintenance and repairs as necessary. Install, test, and maintain residential and commercial geothermal heat pumps.

Also advertised as: Geothermal Service Technician; I and C Technician (Instrument and Controls Technician); I and E Technician (Instrumentation and Electrical Technician); I C and E Technician (Instrumentation, Control, and Electrical Technician); Operations and Maintenance Technician (O and M Technician); Operations Technician; Operator Technician; Plant Electrical Technician.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $49,230 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.67/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $36,080 to $77,040, with the middle half between $42,170 and $61,900
- **Total US employment:** 176,300
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +2.6% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 18,300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 55/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 176,300 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $36,080 |
| 25th | $42,170 |
| 50th (median) | $49,230 |
| 75th | $61,900 |
| 90th | $77,040 |
| Mean (average) | $53,850 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AK | $75,360 | $73,623 | 100 |
| HI | $74,260 | $67,539 | 970 |
| GU | $64,650 | No BEA price parity | 50 |
| WA | $63,080 | $58,946 | 3,550 |
| ME | $61,380 | $63,246 | 1,230 |
| MN | $60,250 | $61,092 | 2,140 |
| MA | $59,890 | $56,630 | 1,240 |
| RI | $59,890 | $58,555 | 180 |
| DC | $59,320 | $53,976 | 130 |
| NY | $56,900 | $52,724 | 5,390 |
| CT | $56,110 | $54,155 | 2,490 |
| IL | $55,780 | $55,803 | 5,350 |
| UT | $53,110 | $53,720 | 2,750 |
| OR | $52,230 | $50,532 | 2,650 |
| ND | $52,040 | $58,499 | 790 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/geothermal-technician/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/geothermal-technician.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 205,200 in the 2025–2035 base year to 210,600 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 5,400 jobs, or +2.6%. About as fast as average: 2.6% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 18,300 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 65.8% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 20.5% |
| Some College Courses | 12.3% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 1.5% |

## What the work involves

- Prepare and maintain logs, reports, or other documentation of work performed.
- Collect and record data associated with operating geothermal power plants or well fields.
- Monitor and adjust operations of geothermal power plant equipment or systems.
- Identify equipment options, such as compressors, and make appropriate selections.
- Perform pre- and post-installation pressure, flow, and related tests of vertical and horizontal geothermal loop piping.
- Identify and correct malfunctions of geothermal plant equipment, electrical systems, instrumentation, or controls.
- Determine whether emergency or auxiliary systems will be needed to keep properties heated or cooled in extreme weather conditions.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Physics — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Chemistry — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Perceptual Speed — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Information Ordering — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.38 |
| C — Conventional | 4.99 |
| I — Investigative | 3.44 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.78 |
| S — Social | 1.68 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 89.8 |
| ISTP | 82.0 |
| ISFJ | 72.7 |
| ESTJ | 72.3 |
| INTJ | 65.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Hydroelectric Plant Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/hydroelectric-plant-technician) — median $102,040
- [Geothermal Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geothermal-production-manager) — median $126,060
- [Power Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-plant-operator) — median $102,040
- [Biomass Plant Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biomass-plant-technician) — median $102,040
- [Stationary Engineer and Boiler Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/stationary-engineer-and-boiler-operator) — median $78,620
- [Wind Turbine Service Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/wind-turbine-service-technician) — median $64,120
- [Gas Plant Operator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/gas-plant-operator) — median $87,820
- [Power Distributor and Dispatcher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/power-distributor-and-dispatcher) — median $106,730
- [Electrical and Electronics Repairer, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronics-repairer-powerhouse-substation-and-relay) — median $103,020
- [Solar Thermal Installer and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/solar-thermal-installer-and-technician) — median $63,800

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/geothermal-technician