&gt; You can build a $5M plumbing&#x2F;electrical&#x2F;etc business in any location and live a much better quality of life.<p>If the average outcome for plumbers is owning $5M businesses, it&#x27;s amazing how that doesn&#x27;t show up in any statistics I&#x27;ve seen.<p>Both of my parents work in the trades. People on Hacker News glamorize it far too much. It&#x27;s much more frequently a case of intermittent employment and low wages—even when you <i>do</i> own your own business (as both of them have at various times).