“What are the best paying trade careers for women looking for minimal physical strain? Any advice for a 26F considering trade school but hesitant about demanding physical labor? Looking for career options with a modern living wage ($60k+ per year) that won’t strain the body excessively. Interested in welding and CNC jobs, seeking insights from experienced professionals to make an informed decision. Want to respect body’s limits while pursuing a rewarding career. Not interested in low-paying ‘feminine’ trades like hair stylist or nail salon jobs. Seeking high-paying trade skills that don’t involve touching strangers. #TradeCareers #ModernLivingWage #MinimalPhysicalStrain #HighPayingJobs“
Plant/utility operators.
Telecom or technician side of trades like electrical, gas, or water.
I’m an electrical tech in the utility industry and make very comfortable money.
Electrical tech is more or less an instrumentation & controls tech in the electric utility industry. Small screwdrivers and mostly use a laptop.
Low voltage electrical, like fire alarms or security systems. Way less physically demanding than other electrician jobs. Your size would probably be an asset.
Sounds like you’re looking for Aviation maintenance.
Electrician
Instrument specialist (low voltage electrical), industrial hygiene technician, radiation control technician. These are the ones I see that don’t take much toll on the body and they all pay around 100k/year in my part of the country.
Locksmith or beer vat cleaner. A friend is a little person and gets paid really well to clean beer vats because of his size. A local locksmith business is the only one within 100 miles. Including the owner there’s six employees and they’re always busy.
So I actually have chronic leg pain and had this same though am going for paralegal (associates degree ) that is a average wage and not physically much per say (it’s a desk job, u work ur brain mostly either researching cases , typing summary of cases, interviewing clients if needed). Also paralegal is considered a trade school/ on the job training field for the most part. Also paralegal is mostly a female dominated field. Also you don’t have to per say do paralegal you can do compliance (that’s like basically a paralegal for corporate). Essentially this could also open doors to other fields (project management is also something I think of , find a company near your area that is hiring you’ll need a online certification but that’s also mainly a desk/problem solving job).
electrician in my city gets paid very well if you’re licensed. If you are in urban area then low voltages can be great and not physically demanding at all
Hvac tech is very tough but pays decently from what I have seen, better if you’re in a union
not too sure about cnc since Im not into manufacturing/tooling, but my cousin is a weilder and there are a variety of licensing levels, some let you do underwater weilding and the pay is so so much higher than what I imagined, dangerous though
Court reporting
If you have any technical background at all or are willing to go to school for a bit to get started, go into biomedical equipment repair. BMET’s are starting to gain demand since the first real batch of them are all retiring right now, and schools stopped teaching biomedical repair in a lot of places. New regulations are requiring hospitals to staff up and pay reasonably for good techs.
i’m a welder for a commercial a/c company. the job is rough and most of my (m22) coworkers who are in their later years and beat up and in bad shape. the money is good, and as much as i absolutely love the trades im going to try and make a career move soon as i would like to use my body in my 50’s or so. i’m not sure if i want to go to utilities or go back to school and get into a nice cushy salary job.
In my state HVAC, Plumbers, and electricians make very good money. It should be similar all over the US
Air Traffic Control – pays six figures, government pension, you have to talk to people but you don’t actually look at them since it is mostly radio work.
Welding engineer here and I would not recommend it if you are concerned about your health.
The welding process involves constant exposure to vaporized heavy metals and other carcinogens.
Also, there is a widespread belief that welding is a high paying job. it can be, but in most cases it is not. The welders that make good money are out in the field welding in hazardous, shitty conditions or are required to travel and live where various construction projects are taking place for months at a time.
Lineman. That’s what I’m doing. And from what I’ve heard you can get your license in at least 6 months and from there 2-4 years of experience will get you up to 40$ dollars an hour or more. That’s 100K plus a year. After that , you can work on getting a class A to drive the big rigs where you lay down cable for industrial jobs. Big money. Plus side is you can travel depending on what contracts your company gets so you pretty much have work anywhere in the U.S. I’ve been to Nevada , Florida , and North Carolina so far. It’s Great !
The only answer to this question is low voltage electrician. Even then you are going to have days where you fee like you got hit by a bus.
Land surveying is in huge demand. Usually starts around 50k where I’m at. You don’t need experience or education to get started, and the only physical requirements are a lot of walking and sometimes lifting/carrying equipment.
Additionally, some places will actually pay for or help pay a for a degree in surveying if you want to go down that route and get licensed. You can end up making a lot more money that way.
I don’t know where you live but where I live in Canada, everyone who completes their apprenticeship gets cash from the government. I believe I got $1000 CAD but women get $3-4000 CAD.
Hvac or electrician
I’m an electrical tech at a factory. I do mostly controls. I rarely do heavy labor. The hardest thing I do most nights is pick up my screwdrivers.
Medical machinists make $30-$40 an hour these days. The best shops are clean enough to eat off the floors. The work isn’t extremely physical, but you will move about quite a bit. Short production run shops will keep your mind active and it’s a good avenue into CAM programming amongst other things.
Safety
Welding is horrible for your health. CNC might be a good option for you, though.
Depends on where you end up. I’ve worked with electricians that barely leave the lunch room, and some that run themselves ragged. I’m an emergency breakdown industrial mechanic which is highly physical in some plans and a few hours of work a day max at others.
Electrician
Started low voltage about 8 years ago and now make 150k plus. A degree is not needed, and there is plenty of opportunity to choose your own salary through certifications and training. Granted, I do design and sales, so that is not the expected starting salary. I started at 16 an hour, pulling cable.
I do electrical and it’s not that bad, physically. I mean you certainly do need to be physically fit, but it beats some other trades
Instrumentation and control technician. I work in nuclear, six figure income. We calibrate and maintain measuring equipment. Unlike electricians, we don’t deal with high voltages, everything is under 120Vac, mostly 48Vdc. The work is interesting, especially on the troubleshooting side and is not physically taxing. We do look at a lot of prints and do a lot of research prior to going out in the field. Wrench time is lower than most trades, I love my job.
Following this thread as I’m in the exact same position myself – thanks for writing this!
TIG welding. Once you get good, you could be a process pipe welder, make 60-70$ an hour and only do welds. You can hold your hand out and have your helper hand you everything lol
Hey mate when it comes to the physical element of the trades a major part is just taking care of yourself properly. Working out or playing sports along with eating right will surprise you how well you can age. My dad has worked in the trades since he was 12 and is in great shape same with my grandpa and he is 84 and still plays sports daily. I myself am in the trades as well and feel great but you have to be intentional about taking care of yourself. As for different trades there are some many I would look for an area that interests you. Hope this helps.
Instrument tech or equipment operator.
Electrician seems to be the runner up.
I work union with construction electrician females. Pays well IMO.
Tool and die is not crazy physical, I know guys doing it in their 60s. Also they are desperate for young guys.
Forklift mechanic – wear and tear on my body is notably less than from when I was an automotive tech, cut my teeth in automotive and jumped to equipment with a very minor learning curve. Now one of the go-to guys in my company, I get to go to various places and spend as long as I need to to get it done right with no micromanaging or oversight. The level of freedom is refreshing
Crane operating, specifically tower if you don’t want to do too much but mobile if you don’t mind working a bit.
welding is brutal. You have to carry around a lot of heavy equipment and slag burns on your arms are a way of life. Its also hot work, made even more miserable if you are outside doing it in the summer, like a ship builder or something. There are never enough sheet rock hangars.
In the municipal world, safety codes inspectors are really in demand.