What is the average plumber salary?

The national median wage for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters is $63,800 a year, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 wage data. Half of plumbers earn more than that and half earn less. State medians range from $48,660 to $101,020.

Which state pays plumbers the most?

District of Columbia ($101,020), Illinois ($99,950), Oregon ($97,050) lead the country on median annual pay for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters. Cost of living explains much of the spread — a higher median does not automatically mean more take-home value.

Which states pay plumbers the least?

Arkansas ($48,660), South Dakota ($51,620), Idaho ($52,380) sit at the bottom of the range. Lower-cost states cluster there, so the gap in real purchasing power is narrower than the raw numbers suggest.

Should I set pay using the national median or my state's?

Neither, on its own. Use your state median as a floor and benchmark against the metro you actually hire in — within-state variation between a major metro and a rural county is often larger than the gap between two states.

Where are the most plumbers employed?

California (47,660), Texas (44,090), and Florida (29,260) employ the most plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters of any state, out of about 465,840 nationally. Texas and Florida both pay below the national median — two of the three deepest talent pools in the country are in below-median-wage states.

How do I set plumber pay if my state median is below the national median?

Benchmark against the metro you actually hire in, not the state. Within-state variation between a major metro and a rural county is often larger than the gap between two states, so a state median can read as competitive while your local market has moved past it. Use the state figure as a floor and your metro as the real target.

Why does my job post get no applicants even though I pay the state median?

Usually because the median is a lagging, statewide figure and your competition is posting against the local metro rate. It can also be response time rather than pay — a qualified plumber who applies and waits three days for a callback has typically already taken another offer. Check both before assuming you have a wage problem.

Plumber salary by state: what plumbers earn in all 50 states (2026)

What does a plumber make?

The national median is $63,800 a year for plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 wage data. State medians run from $48,660 to $101,020 — a spread of roughly $52,360. 26 of 51 jurisdictions pay above the national median.

If you're hiring, that spread is the number that matters. Posting at your state median in a metro that pays well above it is the quiet reason a job sits open for weeks.

Plumber salary by state

Median annual wage, all 51 jurisdictions, ranked. The gap column compares against the $63,800 national median; the last column is total plumbers employed in that state, which tells you how deep the local pool actually is.

#	State	Median annual wage	vs. national	Plumbers employed
1	District of Columbia	$101,020	+$37,220	1,010
2	Illinois	$99,950	+$36,150	16,750
3	Oregon	$97,050	+$33,250	5,370
4	Minnesota	$94,410	+$30,610	10,720
5	Alaska	$93,920	+$30,120	1,200
6	Massachusetts	$93,880	+$30,080	13,460
7	Wisconsin	$81,210	+$17,410	10,210
8	Washington	$81,030	+$17,230	12,470
9	Michigan	$80,190	+$16,390	14,120
10	Montana	$79,960	+$16,160	1,860
11	New Jersey	$78,240	+$14,440	8,750
12	Hawaii	$78,060	+$14,260	2,500
13	New York	$77,490	+$13,690	23,210
14	Connecticut	$77,280	+$13,480	5,410
15	Rhode Island	$76,470	+$12,670	1,820
16	Indiana	$76,320	+$12,520	11,280
17	California	$72,830	+$9,030	47,660
18	Pennsylvania	$68,080	+$4,280	13,620
19	New Hampshire	$66,810	+$3,010	1,950
20	Missouri	$66,790	+$2,990	8,310
21	Maryland	$65,400	+$1,600	11,420
22	Kansas	$65,220	+$1,420	4,590
23	Delaware	$64,720	+$920	1,590
24	Kentucky	$64,160	+$360	6,360
25	Maine	$64,000	+$200	2,710
26	Iowa	$63,890	+$90	5,730
27	Louisiana	$63,680	−$120	8,360
28	North Dakota	$63,560	−$240	1,620
29	Ohio	$63,330	−$470	16,390
30	Colorado	$63,240	−$560	10,080
31	Wyoming	$62,410	−$1,390	1,140
32	Vermont	$62,170	−$1,630	980
33	Arizona	$62,070	−$1,730	11,810
34	Utah	$61,900	−$1,900	7,030
35	Nevada	$61,610	−$2,190	5,370
36	New Mexico	$61,440	−$2,360	2,830
37	Nebraska	$60,970	−$2,830	4,110
38	Virginia	$60,470	−$3,330	13,780
39	Texas	$59,840	−$3,960	44,090
40	Alabama	$58,670	−$5,130	6,950
41	Tennessee	$58,600	−$5,200	9,270
42	Oklahoma	$57,970	−$5,830	6,050
43	Georgia	$57,200	−$6,600	8,930
44	North Carolina	$57,080	−$6,720	14,510
45	West Virginia	$56,980	−$6,820	1,830
46	Mississippi	$55,480	−$8,320	3,360
47	South Carolina	$53,940	−$9,860	5,770
48	Florida	$52,910	−$10,890	29,260
49	Idaho	$52,380	−$11,420	3,090
50	South Dakota	$51,620	−$12,180	1,760
51	Arkansas	$48,660	−$15,140	3,370

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 47-2152 (Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters). Employment figures are state totals; about 465,840 plumbers are employed nationally.

The deepest talent pools mostly pay below the median

The top of that ranking is misleading, and it's worth saying why. The District of Columbia posts the highest median in the country at $101,020 — across 1,010 plumbers. Alaska ($93,920) has 1,200. A high median in a pool that small is a statistical artifact, not a hiring market.

The pools that actually matter look different. California (47,660), Texas (44,090), Florida (29,260), and New York (23,210) employ roughly a third of all plumbers in the country between them — and Texas and Florida, 73,350 plumbers combined, both pay below the $63,800 national median. Ohio (16,390) and North Carolina (14,510) follow the same pattern.

For an owner, the practical read: if you're hiring in Texas, Florida, Ohio, or North Carolina, you're working a deep pool at below-median wages, and your competition for those plumbers is local rather than national. Pay is not your differentiator there, and trying to win on it is expensive. Speed and process are.

What the spread actually tells you

Three things worth reading out of that table.

Cost of living explains a lot of it, but not all of it. The high-paying states cluster around expensive metros and strong union density. But the ranking isn't purely a cost-of-living ranking — licensing regimes, commercial-versus-residential mix, and how tight the local labor market is all move the number.

Within-state variation is often bigger than between-state variation. A plumber in your state's largest metro and one three hours away are frequently further apart on pay than two states are on this list. The state median is a starting point, not an answer.

The median is not the hiring rate. You don't hire the median tech. If you want someone experienced, licensed, and reliable — the kind of person who's currently employed somewhere else — you're bidding against their current employer, not against the median.

Where plumber pay sits against the other trades

Plumbers ($63,800) and electricians ($63,190) sit within about $600 of each other at the national median, close enough to call it a tie — while HVAC technicians ($61,010) trail both by a few thousand. The state-level pictures diverge more than the national numbers suggest: the District of Columbia tops the plumber list but sits mid-pack elsewhere, and Minnesota pays plumbers far better than it pays HVAC techs. See electrician salary by state and HVAC technician salary by state for the side-by-side, and the plumber shortage outlook for why the demand side is tightening faster than the wage data alone shows.

Why plumber pay keeps climbing

The BLS projects plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters employment to grow 4% from 2024 to 2034, and most annual openings exist to replace people leaving the occupation rather than to staff new growth. When the pool of licensed techs shrinks faster than demand, pay is what moves.

That's the mechanism we break down in skilled-trades wage growth — and it's why raises alone rarely fix a retention problem. If pay were the only lever, the shortage would have solved itself already.

What to do with this if you're hiring

Benchmark to your metro, not the national median. Use your state row as the floor.
Re-benchmark annually. Wage growth quietly reprices your existing crew — a tech hired at market two years ago may be under market now, which is exactly the opening a competitor needs.
Publish the range in the job post. Trades candidates filter hard on pay, and a post without a number gets skipped in favour of one that has it.
Don't compete on pay alone. The shops that hold onto techs pair market pay with consistent hours and a real growth path — see how to retain HVAC and plumbing techs.

The bottom line

Pay is the price of entry, not the differentiator. Knowing your state's number keeps you from underbidding the market and losing candidates you never even heard from — but the shops that win the good techs are the ones already talking to them before a seat opens.

That's the always-on approach we run for plumbing and HVAC businesses: a pre-screened bench, so when a seat opens you're making an offer instead of starting a search. See how done-for-you hiring works.