Avionics technician salary 2026: $82,280 median, and why the bench pays

Avionics median (May 2025)

$82,280

BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook

10th percentile

<$49,410

Junior bench, smaller shops

90th percentile

>$113,680

Airline, cargo, scarce type

Avionics technicians are a separate Standard Occupational Classification from aircraft mechanics. The May 2025 median is $82,280 — a little above the A&P-shaped $79,870. That gap is not “radios pay more because they are smarter.” It is a smaller labor pool, more FCC paper, and benches that do not hire every Part 147 graduate who liked wiring. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook is the source. Treat it as a photograph, not a job offer.

The 10th percentile still lives under $49,410. The 90th crosses $113,680 when a major, a night sort, or a scarce type stacks. Combined, BLS groups the family at a $80,180 median. Use the technician number when you are actually on the bench. Use the mechanic number when you are actually on the line. Use the blended number for nothing that has your name on it.

A&P vs avionics pay

Some people hold both an A&P and a GROL and bid a line that uses both. That is a person, not a BLS row. Shops that want only the bench will still ask about the FCC paper. Shops that want only landing gear will not. Do not add $82,280 and $79,870 and call it your future. You get one occupation at a time on a W-2, even if you hold two certificates.

The mechanic 10th/90th pair is less than $48,780 and more than $128,890. The avionics pair is less than $49,410 and more than $113,680. Notice the 90th: mechanics have the fatter right tail in this snapshot. That is overtime, cargo, and majors, not a judgment on who is “skilled.” If you picked avionics because you thought the ceiling was automatically higher, read the percentiles again.

GROL as a hiring filter, not a raise line

The FCC GROL (PG, Elements 1 and 3, lifetime) is the paper a lot of benches still require before they will talk. It does not come with a published premium on a national scale. It comes with access. Without it, some postings will not take the call. With it, you still have to be able to do the work. Sit it when a shop will ask. Do not sit it because a 147 catalog bundled it with a hoodie.

A&P without GROL is a normal line mechanic. GROL without A&P is a normal bench tech in some shops. Both is a person who can move. None of those sentences is the $82,280 median. The median includes all of them who landed in the avionics SOC.

Line versus bench

Line avionics is the airplane: racks, squawks, a gate, a night. Bench avionics is the box: a card, a harness, a procedure, an ESD mat. Line pay often follows the same overtime and bid logic as the mechanic line next to you. Bench pay follows shop rate, type experience, and whether you are the person who can close a box the line has been waiting on. Ask which one the posting is. “Avionics” on a card can mean either.

• Line: shift, bid, weather, the same overtime story as the A&P next to you.
• Bench: shop rate, type, turn time, less Instagram, more ESD.
• MRO: project pace, the box and the airplane in the same week.
• GA: you will do both and get paid like GA. See starting pay if you are new.

Demand is a family; your offer is a shop

BLS puts about 159,800 jobs in the combined family in 2025, with 6 percent growth from 2025 to 2035 and about 13,100 openings a year. That family includes you and the A&P on the other side of the hangar. It does not mean every city has a bench opening at $40/hour. The outlook desk is the national version. The cork board is the local one. Read both before you move for a radio job that is actually a structures overflow.

Typical education in the Handbook is a postsecondary nondegree award — the 147 shape — not a bachelor’s. Some benches want more electronics background than a generic A&P program provides. Some want GROL on day one. Ask. The FAA mechanic path is still the right door if the shop also wants an A&P. The FCC program is the door for PG.

How to read an avionics posting

1. SOC language: mechanic, avionics technician, or “A&P with avionics.” Those are three jobs.
2. Paper: A&P, GROL, both, IA (almost never for the bench), or none.
3. Line or bench. If they will not say, the tour will.
4. Rate, shift, and city. Ignore BLS in the comparison.
5. Type experience. A scarce box can move you toward the 90th. A generic harness will not.

Compare two avionics offers the same way you compare two mechanic offers on the AMT pay scale desk: hourly, shift, overtime history, rent. Do not let a recruiter mix the mechanic median into an avionics conversation or the other way around. The Pay desk keeps the rows labeled so you do not have to.

Mistakes that show up on a first check

A second common mistake is treating the family employment count — 159,800 jobs, 6 percent growth, 13,100 openings — as an avionics-only boom. That is the combined family. Your bench still has to exist in a zip code. Read the outlook desk as national weather, then call three shops and ask whether they have an open bench seat this quarter. Three nos is also data.

A third mistake is shopping schools as if every 147 produced avionics techs. Many produce A&Ps who liked the wiring lab. Ask the school where last year’s radio people actually work, and whether those shops wanted GROL on day one. If they cannot name shops, you are buying a hoodie. The how to get an A&P path is still the right door when the posting wants both papers. It is the wrong door when the posting wants a bench tech and never mentions a mechanic certificate.

When you do get an offer, walk it the same way a mechanic should: hourly, shift, city, tools, who signs the box. ESD mats and a pretty scope do not pay rent. Overtime on a line avionics bid can look like mechanic overtime because it is. Bench overtime looks like “the box is still open.” Ask which one you are walking into before you celebrate a median you read on this page.

Quoting $80,180 in an interview is how you tell a lead you read the wrong row. Collecting IA for an avionics bench is how you tell them you read the wrong part of 14 CFR. Skipping GROL because “I have A&P” is how you miss the posting that would have paid. Skipping A&P because “I have GROL” is how you miss the line job. Read the card. Then sit the test the card names.

Wage figures: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025. Independent editorial. Verify the live table before you relocate or sit a loan.