Plumbing Careers

Plumber Salary in 2026: What the BLS Data Actually Shows

Published July 2026  ·  11 min read

The median plumber in the United States earns $63,800 a year — $30.67 per hour worked. That makes plumbing the highest-paying of the four major building trades at the median, which surprises most people who assume electricians lead. The top 10% clear $108,420, and the gap between the best- and worst-paying states is $52,360.

Every figure here comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, released in 2026, for SOC code 47-2152 — plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters. We pulled it from the BLS API directly rather than repeating secondary sources. Want to run your own numbers? Use the plumber salary calculator for state, experience, specialty, and overtime, or compare all four trades side by side.

The National Numbers

Across 465,840 plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters employed nationally:

• Median annual wage: $63,800 ($30.67/hr)
• Mean annual wage: $72,170 ($34.70/hr)
• 10th percentile: $44,150 ($21.22/hr) — apprentices and helpers
• 25th percentile: $50,190 — apprentices nearing turnout
• 75th percentile: $85,110 — senior journeymen and foremen
• 90th percentile: $108,420 ($52.13/hr) — industrial pipefitters, steamfitters, master-licensed plumbers

One reason this SOC code pays well is that it bundles three jobs. Residential service plumbing, commercial pipefitting, and industrial steamfitting all report under 47-2152, and the industrial end of that range pays substantially more than the residential end. When you read “the median plumber earns $63,800,” part of what you are seeing is process-piping work in refineries and power plants, not drain cleaning.

Do Plumbers Really Make More Than Electricians?

Nationally, yes — by $610. Which is to say, by about 1%, which is nothing. Here are all four trades on the same BLS release:

The honest answer is that plumbing and electrical are the same trade financially — $610 apart at the median and $90 apart at the 90th percentile. Anyone telling you one is clearly the better-paying trade is working from a single state, or from a secondary salary site.

And it genuinely does reverse by state. Comparing state medians across all four trades, electricians hold the higher median in 25 states, plumbers in 22, and HVAC technicians in 4. Roofers lead in none. So the useful question is not which trade pays more in the United States — it is which trade pays more where you live. Our trade salary comparison tool answers that per state.

Plumber Salary by Experience Level

BLS does not publish wages by years of experience, so any table claiming to is estimating. The honest approach is to map experience onto the percentile curve, which tracks well in a trade with a formal registered apprenticeship:

The steepest step is from the 50th to the 75th percentile — $21,310, or 33%. That move is rarely about years served. It comes from a master license, moving into industrial pipefitting, or taking responsibility for running work. See our guide to becoming a plumber for how the licensing tiers actually work.

Plumber Salary by State

Location outweighs licensure and several years of experience. 26 of 51 states and DC pay above the national median. Each state's median, its 90th percentile — the realistic local top of the trade — and its workforce size:

The biggest markets pay below the middle. California employs the most plumbers at 47,660 on a median of $72,830; Texas is second at 44,090 on $59,840, and Florida third at 29,260 on $52,910 — the lowest median of the three largest workforces. Where the work is and where the money is are not the same map.

Adjust for cost of living before relocating. DC leads at $101,020, but a journeyman in Minnesota on $94,410 is very likely further ahead in real terms.

Where DC's Top Ranking Is Misleading

Ranking states by median hides something important: how much headroom the trade has locally. Dividing a state's 90th percentile by its own median gives a ceiling ratio. Nationally that ratio is 1.70x for plumbers. By state it swings from 1.97x to 1.16x — and the state that tops the median table sits at the very bottom of the ceiling table.

The District of Columbia pays the highest median in the country at $101,020 — and has the narrowest ceiling of any state at 1.16x, with a 90th percentile of only $117,180. A DC plumber is paid well for ordinary work and has almost nowhere to climb. Pennsylvania is the mirror image: a median of $68,080, roughly national, but a 90th percentile of $134,110 — a 1.97x ceiling, the widest in the country.

Which matters depends on your plan. If you intend to be a solid journeyman on a steady cheque, optimise for median. If you intend to specialise into industrial pipefitting or get a master license and run work, optimise for ceiling — the state average tells you almost nothing about what you will earn.

Which Plumbing Specialties Pay Most

Getting from the median to the $85,110 range usually comes down to one of these. The percentages are SubcontractorHub estimates from contractor pay data, not BLS figures — BLS does not break wages out by specialty within 47-2152.

• Industrial steamfitting and process piping. The top of the trade for anyone staying on the tools — roughly 18–22% above residential service. Refinery, power plant, and chemical plant work, with shutdown and turnaround overtime that often matters more than the base rate.
• Commercial pipefitting. Around 12–15% above residential. Hydronic heating, chilled water, and large-bore welded systems in hospitals, universities, and data centers.
• Medical gas certification. The highest return for the time invested. ASSE 6010 medical gas installer certification is a short course that opens hospital and surgical-suite work most plumbers cannot legally touch.
• Backflow prevention certification. Cheap to obtain, and in most jurisdictions annual testing is legally mandated — which makes it recurring revenue rather than one-off work.
• Getting a master license and running work. The largest single step. It moves you from wage income to business income, which is exactly what wage data cannot measure.

Notice what is absent: more years doing the same residential service calls. Between the 25th and 50th percentile, time served is the main driver. Above the median it stops being enough.

If You Are the One Paying These Wages

Plumbing has the highest median of the four trades, which means it also has the highest wage bill — and retirements are outpacing new entrants across the trade. Two things follow.

First, benchmark against your state median, not the national one. Paying $63,800 in Illinois means paying $36,150 under the local median, and your best journeymen already know it. Wage is also only part of the cost — our labor burden calculator shows why base wage is usually about 70% of what an employee actually costs. Once the crew is set, payroll software built for construction handles the certified-payroll and multi-rate reporting a general accounting package will not.

Second, the plumbers at the 75th percentile are usually the ones who can price and present work in front of the customer, not just execute it — and that is partly a tooling question. A plumber handed a branded proposal with good-better-best options and financing the homeowner can accept on the spot closes repipes and sewer line replacements at a rate that has little to do with natural salesmanship.

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