Separate facts from planning assumptions
Official fields retain their source edition, geography, unit, period, publication date, and review date. PathGauge labels its own estimates, including preparation time, and does not insert them into an official dataset.
U.S. career measures
National employment, 2024 median annual wages, 2024–34 growth, annual openings, entry education, related experience, and on-the-job training come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections table. Employment counts in the source are thousands; annual openings are converted to people by multiplying the source value by 1,000.
What the numbers mean
- Median annual wage: half of workers earned more and half earned less in the stated wage year. It is not a starting wage.
- Growth: projected percentage change in employment over the stated period. It is not an individual hiring probability.
- Annual openings: average openings from growth and replacement needs. It is not the number of current vacancies.
- Typical education: the level BLS assigns for entry into the occupation; individual employers may differ.
Credential facts
Fees, eligibility, validity, and renewal rules are taken from the issuing organization or regulator. A null fee means there is no single verified fixed amount, not that the route is free. Local license requirements are not inferred from a national credential.
Calculators that show their math
The training investment tool adds the costs you enter, subtracts confirmed aid, and adds the income you expect to give up while training. Its break-even illustration divides that investment by your weekly pay difference only when the difference is positive. The two-program comparison applies the same cost formula to both quotes and never counts excess aid as income. The study planner divides your available time according to the topic weights shown on the page.
The EPA Section 608 selector returns a certification type only after the equipment details match an EPA definition; incomplete answers lead to a prompt to verify the equipment class. The credential-foundation selector ranks options from the learning goal, topic, and prior exposure you choose. It compares issuer-defined scope; it does not score readiness, employment prospects, or the chance of passing an exam.
Quality controls
Builds fail on duplicate slugs, missing records, implausible numeric ranges, unknown units, invalid source domains, broken internal links, malformed structured data, duplicate titles or descriptions, and an unexpected sitemap count.