Originally published January 2013. Updated April 2023.

This week’s spotlight highlights compensation (wages and billable hour) for mechanics in the municipal and utility markets.

"Billable hours per mechanic" measures the total time a mechanic spends working directly on vehicles or pieces of equipment throughout the year. The industry averages of billable hours per mechanic for municipalities and utility companies are 1,456 and 1,461 hours, respectively.

With a difference of only 5 hours per year, this tells us that municipal and utility mechanics are essentially working the same amount. However, where we do find disparity is in how they are paid.

Average mechanic wages

The graphs below show the distribution of wages among these two groups of mechanics using data from our 2021 Benchmark. Here's what we found:

33 percent of utility companies pay mechanics between $40-45. In comparison, 60 percent of municipalities pay mechanics less than $40.

When we last conducted this study in 2013, we saw lower wages but a similar trend. The most common (32%) mechanic wages paid in utility companies were between $33.57 and $36.59 an hour. Around $10 less than the average today.

Still, 70% of municipalities were paying mechanics less than this average.

For more insights on fleet compensation

We surveyed 90+ fleet professionals across various sectors on their compensation in 2022, including:

• Base salary
• Changes in compensation
• Additional benefits & more.

View the results here >>

These results are based on actual data from over 75 utility and municipal clients across the United States and Canada. If you’re not already part of our benchmark and want to learn more, schedule a demo with one of our analysts today.