10 states facing the worst auto mechanic shortages 

In November 2025, Ford CEO Jim Farley made a statement that was quite surprising. The company had been struggling to fill around 5,000 mechanic openings. 

So, if you’ve called five different shops, only to hear that no slots are available for the next few weeks, it’s likely because states across the U.S. are facing an auto mechanic shortage. 

According to PartsTech’s 2025 report, most shops do not have a one-to-one ratio of techs to bays. In the report, 31% of respondents mentioned the technician shortage as the biggest challenge they expect to face in the next five years. 

If Ford, a company that offers mechanics salaries up to $120,000 a year for a role that takes about five years to learn, is struggling to find mechanics, then it’s easy to guess what happens to smaller, independent shops. 

Is your state one of the ones getting hit the hardest? 

Way ranked the top 10 states facing the most severe mechanic shortages using the most recent data available: 2024 registered vehicle counts from the Federal Highway Administration and Q4 2025 auto repair industry employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Methodology: An official state-by-state ranking isn’t available. Instead, we divided the number of registered vehicles in each state by the number of auto repair industry workers in that state.  

Rank	State	Registered Vehicles	Repair Industry Employment	Vehicles per Worker	Workers per 100k Vehicles
1	Montana	2,473,269	4,301	575.0	173.90
2	New York	20,991,098	46,607	450.4	222.03
3	Alabama	5,655,344	13,973	404.7	247.08
4	Hawaii	1,270,153	3,258	389.9	256.50
5	West Virginia	1,479,130	3,819	387.3	258.19
6	South Dakota	1,406,923	3,661	384.3	260.21
7	Louisiana	4,556,436	11,921	382.2	261.63
8	Arkansas	3,366,650	8,810	382.1	261.68
9	Washington	7,519,050	20,290	370.6	269.85
10	Wyoming	877,152	2,391	366.9	272.59

Why is an auto mechanic shortage happening now? 

While it may seem that the shortage appeared out of nowhere, the industry has actually been dealing with a supply problem for years. But when customers started waiting weeks to schedule a repair and repair costs shot through the roof, the issue became more apparent.  

During the 1990s and 2000s, high schools had classes focused on auto repair. But as four-year college degrees became more popular, the number of these classes started to dwindle. This means fewer students got hands-on exposure to auto repair skills. 

The industry needs over 70,000 technicians a year, but training schools only supply about 40,000. That leaves a gap of over 30,000 workers. Women also make up a tiny fraction of the current workforce, at only 1.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This means that the industry is missing out on quite a number of potential technicians. A large portion of the current experienced mechanics are reaching retirement age, leaving repair shops struggling to find qualified replacements. 

Today, even a budget car has dozens of sensors, cameras, software systems, and complex audio systems. Many of these features weren’t standard in cars two decades ago. So, a tech may spend more time just figuring out what’s wrong. On top of that, older mechanics who don’t know much about new technology have to learn as they go, making repairs take even longer. 

Then, there’s the way the techs are paid. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and third-party companies like MOTOR release labor guides that list a book time for each job. This book time is an estimate of how long a repair should take. The techs are usually paid a flat rate based on this book time, and not the actual hours they work. So, if the guide says a brake job should take one hour, that is what the mechanic gets paid for. Even if the mechanic finishes the job in 45 minutes or it turns into two hours because of complications or unfamiliar technology, they may still get paid for only one hour of book time. This can leave technicians working longer than the book time without additional straight-time pay for those hours. 

Cars on the road are also now older than ever. They hit a record average of 12.8 years in 2025. Older vehicles generally require more repairs, which adds more work for shops that are struggling to find enough technicians.  

Something that is less known about the industry is that becoming a tech is quite expensive. Courses and certificate programs typically cost between $1,000 and $20,000. Unlike workers in most jobs, where the employer provides the necessary tools, mechanics often have to pay for their own. A basic professional starter set can cost up to $10,000. The costs keep growing as technicians gain experience and take on more advanced jobs, since they need to buy specialized tools and eventually replace worn-out equipment.  

What is the industry doing to overcome the mechanic shortage? 

In 2019, Icahn Automotive launched a program called Race to 2026 based on a BLS projection that the industry would need another 46,000 technicians by 2026. To fix this, the program offered scholarships for aspiring mechanics and donated money to upgrade technical-school classrooms.  

Getting people to sign up for training is only half the battle; keeping them in the industry long-term is much harder. To figure out why mechanics are quitting their jobs or leaving the field, WrenchWay and the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) conduct an annual survey called the Voice of Technician. 

The 2026 Voice of Technician survey received more than 5,500 responses from technicians, instructors, and students, and many of the same issues kept coming up: technicians want to be paid fairly for the work they’re actually doing, and they don’t want to spend thousands of dollars buying tools.  

To solve this, some shops are moving away from flat-rate pay. Instead, they offer a guaranteed hourly wage and add flat-rate incentives along with it. So, when a difficult diagnosis takes longer than anticipated, techs don’t have to rush through the job and can make sure it doesn’t result in a comeback. 

Others are helping with the equipment problem by giving techs allowances for their tools or enrolling them in loaner programs. 

To sum up 

The auto mechanic shortage isn’t likely to ease soon, especially in states where each repair worker already serves hundreds of vehicles. If you manage a fleet or rely on vehicles for your business, schedule routine maintenance early and build extra repair time into your plans to avoid costly downtime. For shops and dealerships, fair pay structures, tool support, and partnerships with local training programs remain some of the most effective ways to attract and keep skilled technicians.