Plumber cost by state

A plumber bills $60 to $115 an hour in Arkansas and $95 to $190 in Illinois. Most residential work lands near the middle of each, at $85 and $140.

On a small job, none of those is the number that decides your bill. Most plumbers charge a call-out fee of $50 to $250 before the first hour, and many hold a one-hour minimum, so a fifteen-minute repair is billed the same as a fifty-minute one. Ask for three things before booking: the call-out fee, whether it is credited against the work, and the minimum. On a job under two hours those matter more than the hourly rate, and they are the numbers least likely to be volunteered.

The billed rate is also not what the plumber earns. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national mean wage for plumbers at roughly a third of it. The rest is the van, the licence, the insurance, the apprentice, the stock, the unbilled travel and the hours nobody pays for.

How these figures are built

One national billed rate is held in a single place and adjusted per state by one multiplier.

The multiplier is measured rather than estimated. It is each state's mean hourly wage for the construction trades, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics series, divided by the national mean for the same trades.

An hour of plumbing is treated as 95% labour and overhead, with the remaining 5% consumables off the van at national prices. That is why the state spread on this page is wider than on a page about a furnace or a roof. On those, half the bill is a nationally priced product and only the fitting moves with the state.

Plumber hourly rate, by state

These are business-hours rates for residential work. The low column is roughly an apprentice or a small owner-operator, the typical column a journeyman, the high column a master plumber or a company with a dispatcher and a warranty.

What the table does not include

The call-out fee. Most plumbers charge $50 to $250 just to arrive, and many credit it against the work. Ask on the phone whether they do.

The minimum. A one-hour minimum is common and a two-hour minimum is not rare. A ten-minute washer change often costs an hour.

Emergency rates. Nights, weekends and holidays run 1.5 to 3 times the business hours rate, and some companies bill a two-hour minimum after midnight.

Flat-rate pricing. A large share of residential plumbing is now quoted from a flat-rate book rather than by the hour. The book is built from an assumed hourly rate plus parts, so the state pattern still holds, but you will not see the hours.

Where the state changes more than the rate

Permits. A water heater swap needs a permit almost everywhere, and the fee runs $50 in one county and $400 in the next. That is local government, not the trade.

Code. Expansion tanks, seismic strapping, backflow prevention and pipe material rules all vary. A job that is a straight swap in one state carries three extra parts in another.

Licensing. Some states licence at state level and some at city level, and the tighter the licensing the thinner the market and the higher the rate.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Illinois the highest state on this table?

Chicago. Illinois licenses plumbers at state level rather than by municipality, runs a long apprenticeship, and has one of the densest union plumbing markets in the country, and the wage mean carries all three. At 1.27 it is the top of the table and the figure is honest, but it is a state mean pulled hard by one metro. Downstate Illinois does not bill Chicago rates.

Is a flat-rate quote better or worse than hourly?

Better for you on a job that turns out to be difficult, worse on one that turns out to be quick. It removes your risk and prices that removal in. For anything with an unknown behind a wall, flat rate is usually the safer choice.

Should I ask for the hourly rate before booking?

Ask for three things: the call-out fee, whether it is credited against the work, and the minimum. Those decide the bill on a small job far more than the hourly rate does.

Are these rates current?

The state multipliers change when the BLS publishes new wage data, which is once a year. The national plumbing rate is reviewed quarterly. Whichever moved last, the date it was set is printed beside the cost figure at the top of this page, and if that date looks old, it is old.

My quote is well above the high column.

Four things explain most of it. It may be an emergency or out-of-hours rate, which is a different table entirely. It may be flat rate rather than hourly, which prices the risk of the job running long. It may include a permit and inspection. Or the work may sit behind a wall or under a slab, where the hours are a guess and the quote covers the bad version of that guess.

If none of those apply, get a second quote. Two quotes tell you more about a plumbing job than any table can.