Pricing Guides · BLS Data
Contractor Hourly Labor Rates by Trade (2026)
Contractor hourly labor rates by trade, straight from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: mean and median hourly wages for 12 construction trades, plus a plain explanation of why the rate you bill runs above the wage on the BLS table.
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Why contractor hourly labor rates vary by trade
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program tracks what workers actually get paid, by detailed occupation, from employer payroll reports. Licensed trades with a long apprenticeship and a state exam, plumbers, electricians, HVAC, sit near the top. Trades with a lower licensing bar and a larger labor pool, laborers, insulation, painters, sit lower. That gap tracks supply and licensing friction, not skill.
Contractor hourly labor rates by trade (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
The table below lists mean and median hourly wages for 12 construction trades, ranked by mean hourly wage, from the current BLS OEWS national release. Mean is the simple average across every worker surveyed. Median is the middle value: half the workers in that trade earn more, half earn less.
| Trade | Mean hourly wage | Median hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters | $34.70 | $30.67 |
| Electricians | $34.37 | $30.38 |
| Brickmasons and blockmasons | $32.83 | $29.87 |
| Carpenters | $31.55 | $29.12 |
| HVAC mechanics and installers | $31.14 | $29.33 |
| Drywall and ceiling tile installers | $30.58 | $28.33 |
| Floor layers (except carpet, wood, and hard tiles) | $29.69 | $27.15 |
| Cement masons and concrete finishers | $28.87 | $27.41 |
| Roofers | $27.95 | $26.65 |
| Painters, construction and maintenance | $26.64 | $23.75 |
| Insulation workers (floor, ceiling, and wall) | $26.32 | $23.62 |
| Construction laborers | $25.02 | $22.66 |
Painters show why the two columns read differently: the mean, $26.64, sits well above the median, $23.75, so a smaller group of higher-paid painters pulls the average up. Where mean and median sit close, roofers at $27.95 and $26.65, pay is more evenly spread.
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Why the rate you bill runs above the BLS wage
The figures above are wages, what a worker is paid per hour. What a contractor bills is a different number, because the wage is one line inside a larger cost stack. Payroll burden sits on top first. Employer payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, and liability insurance all scale with payroll, and none show up in a BLS wage. Overhead comes next: the truck, fuel, tools, and admin time that never bills directly to a job. Then profit, the margin that funds slow weeks and warranty callbacks.
No single, sourced multiplier turns a wage into a billed rate; burden, overhead, and margin vary by state, trade, and how a shop carries insurance. What holds is the order: start from a real wage, add burden, add overhead, then add margin.
Methodology: what OEWS actually measures
OEWS is a federal-state cooperative survey built on employer payroll records, not contractor surveys. Figures here are national, cross-industry estimates. Every state and industry that employs a trade folds into one number, not construction employers alone. The current release covers May 2025 and reports straight-time gross pay. Base rate, cost-of-living allowances, commissions, and production bonuses are included; overtime, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses, and employer-paid benefits are excluded. Self-employed contractors sit outside the survey, since OEWS counts payroll employees.
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Keep reading
- Electrical Contractor Pricing Guide: how electricians turn a labor rate into a job price.
- Plumbing Service Pricing Guide: service-call and flat-rate pricing built on the same labor math.
- Handyman Pricing Guide for Maximum Profit: pricing a trade with no single BLS occupation code of its own.
Sources
- BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national estimates, 12 trades, retrieved 2026-08-18.
- BLS, OEWS Technical Notes, survey scope and wage definition, verified 2026-08-28.
- SimplyWise Cost Estimator on the App Store (4.8 rating; verified 2026-08-18).
Frequently asked questions about contractor hourly labor rates
Reading the wage data
What is the highest-paid construction trade by hourly wage?
In the current BLS OEWS national estimates, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters hold the top mean hourly wage in this table, at $34.70. Electricians follow at $34.37. Both trades carry a licensing requirement and a multi-year apprenticeship.
Should I use the mean or the median hourly wage?
Use the median for the wage in the middle of a trade. It is unaffected by a few very high or low earners. Use the mean for the simple average across everyone BLS surveyed. When the two sit close, drywall installers at $30.58 mean and $28.33 median, pay is even across the trade. A wider gap signals more spread.
From wage to billed rate
Why is my billed labor rate higher than the BLS wage for my trade?
Because the BLS figure is only the wage line. A billed rate also covers payroll burden: taxes, workers’ compensation, liability insurance. It covers overhead: the truck, tools, fuel, admin time. Then profit margin on top. None of that is in a BLS wage, so a rate built straight off the table will lose money.
Is there a standard multiplier to turn a wage into a billed rate?
No single multiplier is safe to state as fact, since burden, overhead, and target margin vary by state, trade, and how a shop carries insurance. The reliable pattern is the sequence. Start from a real wage, add burden, add overhead, then add margin, and confirm the total against your own books.
Where this data comes from
What does the BLS OEWS survey actually measure?
OEWS is a federal-state cooperative survey that samples employer payroll records by detailed occupation. Figures here are national, cross-industry estimates for the May 2025 reference period. Coverage is straight-time gross pay: commissions and production bonuses are included, while overtime, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses, employer-paid benefits, and self-employed workers are not.
Does SimplyWise Cost Estimator price labor automatically?
SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Material and labor lines are editable. It does not set your labor rate for you. You still enter the rate that covers wage, burden, overhead, and margin. Pricing is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, with a 7-day free trial.
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