# Contractor Hourly Labor Rates by Trade: 2026 Data Canonical URL: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/contractor-hourly-labor-rates-by-trade/ Plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/contractor-hourly-labor-rates-by-trade/llms.txt Publisher: SimplyWise, Inc. (https://www.simplywise.com) Published: August 28, 2026 Updated: October 5, 2026 Category: Project Cost Guides Summary: Contractor hourly labor rates by trade for 2026: mean and median wages for 13 trades from BLS OEWS data, plus why billed rates run above wages. --- ## 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 13 construction trades, plus a plain explanation of why the rate you bill runs above the wage on the BLS table. Contractor hourly labor rates by trade, at a glance 1. BLS puts plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters at the top of this data set, with a $34.70 mean hourly wage. 2. Electricians, brickmasons, carpenters, and HVAC mechanics round out the next four spots, all above $31 an hour mean. 3. Fence erectors sit at the bottom of the table, with a $24.29 mean hourly wage. 4. These are wages paid to workers, not rates billed to customers. Billed rates add burden, overhead, and margin on top. 5. Use the median column when a trade’s mean looks pulled up by a small group of high earners. 6. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 national estimates, the current release as of this update. ## Why contractor hourly labor rates vary by trade The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/oes/) program tracks what workers 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 13 construction trades, ranked by mean hourly wage, from the current BLS OEWS national release. Mean is the 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 | | Fence erectors | $24.29 | $23.07 | 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 evenly spread. The spread, in one line: the highest-paid trade in this table is plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, at a $34.70 mean hourly wage. That is 43 percent more than the lowest, fence erectors, at $24.29. ## 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. 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 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; OEWS counts payroll employees. ## SimplyWise Cost Estimator for pricing labor into a bid Once labor is priced right, the rest of a bid is materials, waste, and markup. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job-site photo into an itemized estimate in about 6 seconds. Material and labor lines are editable. It is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, about $20/mo on annual, with a 7-day free trial. ## Keep reading - Electrical Contractor Pricing Guide (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/electrical-contractor-pricing-guide/): how electricians turn a labor rate into a job price. - Plumbing Service Pricing Guide (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/plumbing-service-pricing-guide/): service-call and flat-rate pricing built on the same labor math. - Handyman Pricing Guide for Maximum Profit (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/handyman-pricing-guide-maximum-profit/): pricing a trade with no single BLS occupation code of its own. ## Sources - BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/oes/), May 2025 national estimates, 13 trades, retrieved 2026-08-18 and 2026-08-31. - BLS, OEWS Technical Notes (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_tec.htm), survey scope and wage definition, verified 2026-08-28. - SimplyWise Cost Estimator on the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664) (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. --- ## About SimplyWise SimplyWise, Inc. (New York, NY) builds mobile apps for contractors, tradespeople, and small business owners. The SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job site photo into an itemized estimate with labor and material costs in about 6 seconds, and the client signs the branded quote to approve it. It is rated 4.8 on the App Store. It is free to try with a 7-day free trial, then $29.99 per month or $239.99 per year (about $20 per month on the annual plan), and one subscription includes every app in the SimplyWise suite. - Download: https://www.simplywise.com/download - App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664 - Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplywise.costestimator - Every SimplyWise page as plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/llms.txt