Fresno sits in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley produce and dried fruit cold chain, so your calls skew toward pre-cooling sheds, processing plants, and distribution freezers rather than storefront rack work. Statewide, refrigeration technicians, mechanics, and engineers average about $70,000 a year, which lands California near the top of the state salary ranking. Work is seasonal in shape: tree fruit, grape, and vegetable harvests drive the overtime.
California averages roughly $70,000 a year across refrigeration technicians, mechanics, and engineers. Fresno's cost of living runs below the coastal metros, and harvest-season overtime at the cold storage and pre-cooling operations is where the real money shows up.
EPA 608 is federal law anywhere you touch refrigerant. To contract commercial or industrial refrigeration work in California you need a C-38 contractor license; working as a tech for Lineage, Americold, or a licensed contractor does not require you to hold one yourself. See the state license requirements guide for the full picture.
Cold storage and food plants in Fresno, Visalia, and Tulare hire helpers and second techs into ammonia and industrial systems, which is a faster door than grocery rack work. Get EPA 608 certified first, then look at the path into commercial refrigeration.