Wage tableA sourced table you can read and print
What Home Repair Tradespeople Are Paid
Federal wage data for the main repair trades: the low, median and high annual pay for each, with the median hourly wage. These are what workers are paid, not what a contractor charges you.
On this page
Roofers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters and laborers are paid these wages, which sit behind the labor part of a repair quote. It is not a price list.
- Low
- $37,460
- Typical
- $55,440
- High
- $81,720
- Per
- per year, wage paid All lines
| Item | Unit | Low | Typical | High | Includes | Source (checked) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roofers | per year, wage paid | $37,460 | $55,440 | $81,720 | Median is $26.65 an hour. Low is the pay the lowest-paid tenth stayed under; High is the pay the highest-paid tenth went over. Wages paid to workers, not what a contractor bills. | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Roofers, November 8, 2026 |
| Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters | per year, wage paid | $44,150 | $63,800 | $108,420 | Median is $30.67 an hour. Low is the pay the lowest-paid tenth stayed under; High is the pay the highest-paid tenth went over. Wages paid to workers, not what a contractor bills. | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, November 8, 2026 |
| Electricians | per year, wage paid | $42,640 | $63,190 | $108,510 | Median is $30.38 an hour. Low is the pay the lowest-paid tenth stayed under; High is the pay the highest-paid tenth went over. Wages paid to workers, not what a contractor bills. | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Electricians, November 8, 2026 |
| Carpenters | per year, wage paid | $40,410 | $60,580 | $99,910 | Median is $29.12 an hour. Low is the pay the lowest-paid tenth stayed under; High is the pay the highest-paid tenth went over. Wages paid to workers, not what a contractor bills. | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Carpenters, November 8, 2026 |
| Painters (construction and maintenance) | per year, wage paid | $37,440 | $49,400 | $78,810 | Median is $23.75 an hour. Low is the pay the lowest-paid tenth stayed under; High is the pay the highest-paid tenth went over. Wages paid to workers, not what a contractor bills. | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Painters, construction and maintenance, November 8, 2026 |
| Construction laborers and helpers | per year, wage paid | $34,820 | $46,680 | $76,400 | Median is $22.44 an hour. Low is the pay the lowest-paid tenth stayed under; High is the pay the highest-paid tenth went over. Wages paid to workers, not what a contractor bills. | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Construction laborers and helpers, November 8, 2026 |
Updated
Sources
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Roofers bls.gov
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters bls.gov
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Electricians bls.gov
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Carpenters bls.gov
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Painters, construction and maintenance bls.gov
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Construction laborers and helpers bls.gov
What the table shows, and what it does not
The table is built from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, which publishes the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics estimates for May 2025. For each trade there are annual numbers: the pay that the lowest-paid tenth of workers stayed under, the median, and the pay that the highest-paid tenth went over. The Includes column adds the median hourly wage the Handbook prints in its Quick Facts for the same trade.
A wage is what a worker is paid for an hour or a year of work. It is not what a contractor bills you. A contractor's price also has to cover things that never show up in a worker's wage, such as the company's insurance, vehicles, tools, office, overhead and profit, and the time spent on estimates and callbacks. This page does not try to guess how large those parts are, because no public source this site has saved says. Anyone who tells you that a billing rate is some fixed multiple of a wage is guessing.
So why publish wages? Because they are the most reliable public number about the labor side of repair work, and because they correct some common mistakes. A quote that implies workers are paid far outside the range in the table is worth asking about.
How to use it with a quote
Use the table as a sanity check on the labor part of a written estimate, not as a price list. If an estimate separates labor from materials, look at the hours and ask what trade is doing them. Ask whether the person on site is an employee or a subcontractor, and whether they are licensed and insured. The Federal Trade Commission advises considering only contractors who are licensed and insured, and getting written estimates that spell out the job.
When estimates for the same job differ a great deal, ask each contractor to explain the difference. It might be the materials, the scope, the warranty, or who does the labor.
Worked example: reading one row
Take the roofers row. The Low column is the pay that the lowest-paid tenth of roofers earned less than; the Typical column is the national median; the High column is the pay the highest-paid tenth earned more than. Suppose a quote for a small repair lists a labor line that looks high. You cannot tell from the wage table whether the line is fair, but you can ask what portion is the crew's time and what portion is the company's cost of doing business, and you can ask for the labor and materials to be itemized so you can compare quotes. That is the use of this page: it gives you a floor of understanding about the people doing the work.
Why this guide is short
Repair prices vary by region, season, access, materials and the condition of what is behind the wall. Public, dateable price sources are scarce, and this site only publishes a number it can trace to a page it saved and dated. As more sources are saved, more rows and more cost guides will be added. The methodology page explains the rules. If you are about to hire someone, the hiring checklist and the request for an itemized estimate are more useful today than a guess at a price.