I'm seeing starting pay ranges bottoming out at $11 an hour to $14 an hour, which is as much as an $8 an hour pay cut, also less than fast food is currently paying with zip codes 30~ miles away. The one that lists $11 an hour as the low end requests 5 years of experience.

It doesn't sound like you're looking for answers, it sounds like you just are frustrated and want to vent. That's cool, but it's a different problem than "how do you start a new career with minimal qualifications". You're going to have to sacrifice something if you want to switch careers. As a 38 year old myself I feel your pain, but I've often thought about going back to manual labor to get into the trades. I used to stock shelves and bake pies and it was pretty satisfying work.

I'm looking for answers, I'm not looking for some arm-chair expert that assumes a person asking a question has done zero research and wants to throw out an answer an article or guidance counselor told them about years ago.

You just told me to take a 90 minute commute, at an $8 an hour pay cut, to go into a "kinda" apprenticeship that is asking for 5 years of experience in the job posting.

> I've often thought about going back to manual labor to get into the trades

Easy to pontificate what you don't do. I think a substantial wage cut in the interim is a serious concern and sussing out all the options is not tantamount to "making excuses".