Trade wages / May 2025 / Philadelphia metro area
Plumbers earned a median $35.99 an hour in the Philadelphia area in May 2025, the most of nine home repair trades
Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates cover the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area, 11 counties in four states with Montgomery County among them. Construction laborers were lowest of the nine trades at $26.50, just above the $26.11 median for all jobs.
- Plumbers, median
- $35.99an hour, up 3.2% from May 2024
- Electricians
- $35.86an hour
- Construction laborers
- $26.50lowest of the nine
- All jobs
- $26.11metro area median
Median hourly wage, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area, May 2025, dollars. Bars start at zero. Plumbers includes pipefitters and steamfitters. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Plumbers in the Philadelphia area earned a median wage of $35.99 an hour in May 2025, the highest of nine trades that work on houses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Electricians were close behind at $35.86. Construction laborers were lowest of the nine at $26.50, just above the $26.11 median for all jobs in the area. The median is the middle wage: half the workers in a trade earned more and half earned less.
The figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, a survey of employers that BLS publishes each year with May as the reference month. They cover the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area, which BLS defines as 11 counties in four states, Montgomery County among them. Plumbers’ median was up 3.2% from May 2024 and 24.9% from May 2018, the first year BLS published figures for the whole metro area rather than its divisions.
Wages by tradePlumbing pay ran from $23.27 to $68.37 an hour, the widest range of the nine
The survey reports a range for each trade as well as the median. In carpentry, which had 14,260 jobs in the metro area, the 10th percentile was $21.97 an hour and the 90th percentile $47.34. A percentile is the wage below which that share of workers fall, so one carpenter in ten earned less than $21.97. Plumbing had the widest range of the nine, from $23.27 at the 10th percentile to $68.37 at the 90th.
Hourly wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area, May 2025, dollars. All panels share one scale. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 metropolitan area estimates.
Tile and stone setters had the third-highest median, $34.01, after a 22.4% rise from May 2024. The survey counted 390 of them in the metro area, the smallest group in the table, and an estimate built on so few workers can move a lot from one year to the next. Heating and air conditioning mechanics earned a median $31.05, carpenters $29.70, drywall installers $29.46, roofers $28.72 and painters $27.60.
How the trades moved since 2018The median for all jobs rose 27.6% from 2018, and two trades rose faster
From May 2018 to May 2025, the median wage for all jobs in the metro area rose 27.6%, from $20.47 to $26.11. Two of the nine trades rose faster: tile setters, by 44.7% on a small count, and construction laborers, by 32.0%. Painters rose 25.4%, plumbers and roofers 24.9% each, and heating and air conditioning mechanics 18.0%. Electricians rose 11.4% and carpenters 7.9%.
Change in median hourly wage, May 2018 to May 2025, percent, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area. Bars start at zero. Tile and stone setters numbered 390 in May 2025, so their estimate can swing widely. The changes are differences between published estimates. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS tables.
Carpenters’ median fell to $26.31 in May 2021, its low for the period, then rose in each of the next three years to $29.98 in May 2024. It slipped 0.9% to $29.70 in May 2025. Drywall installers fell 3.4% over the same year. The all-jobs median rose 4.9%.
Median hourly wage in May of each year, 2018 to 2025, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area, dollars. The scale starts at $20. Estimates pool three years of survey responses, and BLS does not encourage comparisons over time. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS tables.
The number of jobs in most of these trades changed little. The survey counted 13,020 carpenters in May 2018 and 14,260 in May 2025, and 10,560 electricians in May 2018 against 10,090 in May 2025.
What this means for a remodeling quoteForty hours of carpentry at the median wage pays the worker $1,188
A wage is what the worker is paid. BLS says these estimates leave out the employer’s cost of benefits such as health insurance and retirement contributions. A contractor’s hourly labor rate also has to cover payroll taxes, insurance, overhead and profit, so it will sit above these medians. The medians are a starting point for reading the labor line of a quote.
Here is an example with round numbers. Suppose a quote for a basement room lists 40 hours of carpentry. At the area’s median carpenter wage of $29.70, the wages alone come to $1,188. At the 90th percentile, $47.34, they come to $1,893.60. If the labor line on your quote is several times either figure, ask the contractor what the rate includes and how many people the hours cover.
| Rate | Hours | Wage | Wages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carpenter, median | 40 | $29.70 | $1,188 |
| Carpenter, 90th percentile | 40 | $47.34 | $1,893.60 |
Wages only. A contractor’s labor rate also covers benefits, payroll taxes, insurance, overhead and profit. Wage rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025.
On a time-and-materials job, where you pay for the hours worked plus materials, Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act requires a written cost estimate and caps the overrun. The contractor hiring guide and the change orders guide cover those rules. The guide to what remodeling costs explains how to read the materials side of a quote. Roofers are covered in more depth by Conshy Roofers.
The registerEvery trade’s wages in May 2025, from the 10th to the 90th percentile
| Trade | Jobs | 10th pct. | 25th pct. | Median | Median as a bar | 75th pct. | 90th pct. | Median a year | Since 2024 | Since 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbers | 7,150 | $23.27 | $29.28 | $35.99 | $49.89 | $68.37 | $74,860 | +3.2% | +24.9% | |
| Electricians | 10,090 | $22.59 | $27.84 | $35.86 | $50.11 | $63.76 | $74,590 | +0.7% | +11.4% | |
| Tile and stone setters | 390 | $19.37 | $24.64 | $34.01 | $38.68 | $46.92 | $70,730 | +22.4% | +44.7% | |
| Heating and air conditioning mechanics | 8,610 | $21.88 | $25.00 | $31.05 | $37.99 | $48.46 | $64,580 | +2.8% | +18.0% | |
| Carpenters | 14,260 | $21.97 | $23.17 | $29.70 | $36.83 | $47.34 | $61,780 | −0.9% | +7.9% | |
| Drywall installers | 980 | $18.03 | $22.41 | $29.46 | $31.99 | $45.00 | $61,280 | −3.4% | +16.4% | |
| Roofers | 1,530 | $19.49 | $23.83 | $28.72 | $34.93 | $41.65 | $59,730 | +0.8% | +24.9% | |
| Painters | 3,360 | $18.04 | $23.21 | $27.60 | $30.69 | $37.00 | $57,410 | +2.9% | +25.4% | |
| Construction laborers | 14,580 | $18.46 | $22.43 | $26.50 | $34.37 | $40.00 | $55,120 | +3.6% | +32.0% | |
| All occupations | 2,897,830 | $15.00 | $18.00 | $26.11 | $40.76 | $62.63 | $54,310 | +4.9% | +27.6% |
Hourly wages in dollars. Annual figures assume 2,080 hours of work a year. Changes compare published median estimates for May of each year. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 metropolitan area estimates. Download the table (CSV), the medians by year and the job counts by year.
CaveatsEach year’s estimate pools six panels of responses collected over three years
BLS builds each year’s estimates from six panels of survey responses collected over three years, adjusting the older wages to the current May. The bureau’s FAQ says it “does not encourage the use of OEWS data for time-series analysis.” The changes in this article are differences between published estimates, and part of any one-year change can come from the sample. BLS also changed its occupation codes during the period. The May 2018 estimates use the 2010 classification, the May 2019 and May 2020 estimates mix the 2010 and 2018 classifications, and May 2021 was the first year built entirely on the 2018 codes.
The survey covers wage and salary employees, so owner-operators who do the work themselves are outside these figures. The metro area covers Philadelphia and its suburbs in Pennsylvania along with counties in New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, and BLS publishes these estimates for the metro area as a whole. The area’s 11 counties were the same in the May 2018 and May 2025 definitions. Wages in Conshohocken and the nearby townships may differ from the metro median.