How to become a plumber

How to become a plumber, step by step

1. Finish high school or get a GED. BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the usual requirement.
2. If you want a head start, take courses at a vocational-technical school or a pre-apprenticeship, or start as a plumber's helper.
3. Get into an apprenticeship with a union, a trade association or a plumbing business, and work about 2,000 paid hours a year while you take classes.
4. Finish the apprenticeship and pass the licensing exam to work as a journeyman.
5. Keep working and pass another exam to earn master status. Some states require it for a plumbing contractor license.
6. Get the contractor license your state asks for, then start your own shop.

Apprenticeship and on-the-job training

Most plumbers learn the trade in a 4 or 5 year apprenticeship, with about 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training plus some classroom instruction each year.

Classes cover safety, local plumbing codes and regulations, and blueprint reading, along with math, applied physics and chemistry.

Unions, trade associations and businesses sponsor programs. Most apprentices enter directly, and some start out as helpers or finish a pre-apprenticeship first.

Apprentices earn less than fully trained plumbers, and the pay goes up as they learn to do more.

Find registered openings near you in the Apprenticeship Job Finder. In each state page below, we note whether the state runs its own apprenticeship agency or works through the U.S. Department of Labor.

Trade school and other ways in

Vocational-technical school. Vo-tech schools teach pipe system design, safety and tool use. They also teach welding, which some pipefitter and steamfitter apprenticeships require.

Pre-apprenticeship. A pre-apprenticeship prepares people to get into and finish a Registered Apprenticeship, and is a common way in for people with no trade experience.

Starting as a helper. Some people start as a helper on a plumbing crew and move into an apprenticeship from there.

Licenses and exams

Most states and some localities license plumbers. They often ask for 2 to 5 years of experience and an exam on the trade before you work on your own.

After the apprenticeship, plumbers pass the licensing exam to become journey level. Several more years and another exam bring master status.

Some states require pipefitters and steamfitters to be licensed too, and may require a special license for gas lines.

Of the 49 states we have checked against the official boards, 43 require a state plumbing license, 2 license only part of the work, and 4 leave it to cities and counties. Every state, with fees and forms: plumbing licenses by state.

Certifications

Optional certifications. Plumbers can add certifications such as plumbing design to widen the work they can take on. Most employers also require a driver's license.

EPA lead-safe firm certification. Anyone paid to do work that disturbs paint in homes or child-occupied facilities built before 1978 must be certified under the EPA Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. That covers every firm, sole proprietors included, so it matters the day you go out on your own.

What plumbers earn

Plumbers earned a median $30.67 an hour in May 2025. The lowest-paid tenth earned under $21.22 and the top tenth over $52.13.

Among the states with a page below, the highest medians are in District of Columbia ($48.57), Illinois ($48.05) and Oregon ($46.66).

BLS counts 510,600 jobs for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters and projects 7 percent growth from 2025 to 2035, with about 42,000 openings a year.

Pay in every state: plumber salary by state.

From the truck to your own shop

Once licensed at the journey level, plumbers can move up to master plumber, supervisor or project manager.

Some plumbers start their own business as an independent contractor, which may need more licensing.

Before you go out on your own, price your hours. At the national median of $30.67, the labor rate calculator gives $124.45 per billable hour on its starting numbers.

The full checklist: how to start a plumbing business. The free Koira Office plan gives you a website on a Koira address, estimates customers sign with a deposit, invoices with card payments and your day's jobs in one place, with no per-person fee. See the plans.