There is no BLS code for “pool tech”
This matters, because most wage figures for this trade online are presented as if there were. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a distinct occupation for pool service technicians; the work is spread across general maintenance and repair, grounds maintenance, and self-employment that surveys catch poorly.
So any honest page about this either cites the nearest published occupation and says so, or quotes an aggregator’s self-reported figures and pretends they are official. This is the first kind.
The numbers that do exist
| Source | Occupation | Median | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook | General maintenance and repair workers | $49,590/yr | May 2025 |
| BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook | Same, hourly | $23.84/h | May 2025 |
Read live from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook on 2026-09-04. It is the closest published occupation, not a pool-specific survey, and it should be read as a floor reference rather than a target.
Hourly versus per-stop
Plenty of route work is paid per stop rather than per hour, which changes the maths entirely. At fourteen stops a day, a per-stop rate has to clear the equivalent hourly cost including drive time — and drive time is exactly what a per-stop rate hides. A tech on a tight route earns well on per-stop pay; the same rate on a scattered route is a pay cut nobody wrote down.
If you are evaluating an offer, price a day of it with the pricing calculator — put your own wage in as the labour line and see what the day actually yields.
Where the money goes up
Cleaning pays the least; equipment work pays more. A tech who can diagnose a heater lockout, replace a pump seal and re-plumb a pad is worth substantially more than one who tests and doses, because those jobs bill at a different rate and cannot be subcontracted to whoever is cheapest. The pump and heater guides are the two skills that move a wage fastest.
Owning the route instead
The step after that is owning the accounts rather than working them. It is a different job — sales, scheduling, collections and a truck that is now your problem — and it is the only version of this trade where income stops being capped by hours. What that book is worth when you eventually sell it is a knowable number; the route valuation tool works it out.