State of the locksmith trade, 2026
What locksmiths earn in every state, where the jobs are, how fast the work is projected to grow, which states license it and what typical locksmith jobs cost. Every figure comes from a public dataset or a koira.ai cost guide, with the method below and a CSV of the full table.
The short version
- The national median for locksmiths is $24.68 an hour ($51,320 a year). Pay runs from $17.20 in Arkansas to $36.89 in District of Columbia.
- California has the most locksmiths on payrolls, 2,060. See locksmith pay in every state.
- State labor offices project -11.5% more jobs nationally from 2022 to 2032, with about 1,700 openings a year. Wyoming leads at +50.0%.
- 11 of the 14 states koira.ai has checked require a state license for locksmith work, 0 license part of it and 3 leave it to cities and counties. The locksmith license guide has each state's steps.
- A typical locksmith is about $160 nationally in Koira's locksmith cost guide. By state, the Koira estimate runs from $131 in Arkansas to $209 in Hawaii.
What locksmiths earn
Median hourly wage by state, May 2025, the ten highest paying states. BLS published a median for 48 of the 50 states and DC.
The five lowest: Arkansas $17.20, Oklahoma $18.59, New Mexico $20.15, Mississippi $20.64 and Alabama $20.84.
| Percentile | Hourly |
|---|---|
| 10th | $17.08 |
| 25th | $20.75 |
| Median | $24.68 |
| 75th | $31.04 |
| 90th | $38.17 |
What that wage means for a price
A wage is not a rate. Using the starting numbers of the free labor rate calculator (40 hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and a 15% profit), a business paying the national median has to bill about $113.93 an hour to cover it.
| Where | Median wage | Rate to bill |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $24.68 | $113.93 |
| District of Columbia, highest median | $36.89 | $135.37 |
| Arkansas, lowest median | $17.20 | $100.79 |
Change any of those numbers in the calculator to see your own rate. The CSV has the rate for every state.
Where the work is
The ten states with the most locksmiths employed, May 2025.
Where the trade is most concentrated
Locksmiths per 1,000 jobs of every kind in the state. A high number means the trade is a bigger share of local work than it is nationally.
Jobs outlook
State labor market offices project locksmiths and safe repairers jobs nationally to go from 18,200 in 2022 to 16,100 in 2032, a change of -11.5%, with about 1,700 openings a year from growth, retirements and people leaving the trade.
The ten states with the fastest projected growth, 2022 to 2032. Projections exist for 49 states.
Slowest: New Hampshire -16.7%, Mississippi -16.7% and Delaware -14.3%. The path into the trade, state by state, is in how to become a locksmith.
Licensing
Does the state require a state license for locksmith work? Each answer comes from the state's own board or statute.
- State license: 11 states: Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Virginia.
- Partly licensed (residential only, above a dollar amount, or a registration): 0. Local only: 3. Not checked yet: 37.
- 1 of the 14 checked states put an insurance or bond rule in the license itself.
What locksmith jobs cost
National price ranges from Koira's cost guides. Each guide takes the low, average and high figures of two or more published cost guides and shows them.
| Job | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Locksmith | $100 | $160 | $220 |
One job, state by state
Koira estimates of a typical locksmith in the ten most expensive states. Only the labor share of the price moves with the state's BLS wage; materials do not.
Every state
| State | Median hourly | Employed | Jobs 2022 to 2032 | State license | Typical locksmith |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $24.68 | 15,040 | -11.5% | 11 states | $160 |
| Alabama | $20.84 | 200 | -5.6% | Yes | $135 |
| Alaska | $28.07 | 80 | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $195 |
| Arizona | $21.37 | 260 | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $157 |
| Arkansas | $17.20 | 100 | -11.1% | Not checked yet | $131 |
| California | $29.33 | 2,060 | 0.0% | Yes | $186 |
| Colorado | $22.84 | 380 | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $164 |
| Connecticut | $33.31 | 120 | 0.0% | Yes | $186 |
| Delaware | $30.60 | 50 | -14.3% | Not checked yet | $160 |
| District of Columbia | $36.89 | Not published | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $183 |
| Florida | $23.61 | 1,440 | -2.9% | Not checked yet | $138 |
| Georgia | $25.99 | 330 | -2.1% | Not checked yet | $139 |
| Hawaii | $31.00 | 50 | Not published | Not checked yet | $209 |
| Idaho | $20.90 | 150 | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $153 |
| Illinois | $27.94 | 430 | -11.5% | Yes | $205 |
| Indiana | $22.91 | 250 | -13.2% | Not checked yet | $165 |
| Iowa | $22.29 | 120 | +5.6% | Not checked yet | $160 |
| Kansas | $25.45 | 110 | -9.1% | Not checked yet | $150 |
| Kentucky | $24.58 | 120 | -7.7% | Not checked yet | $146 |
| Louisiana | $22.38 | 190 | -13.0% | Yes | $139 |
| Maine | $25.32 | 140 | -10.0% | Not checked yet | $162 |
| Maryland | $29.01 | 270 | -6.7% | Not checked yet | $161 |
| Massachusetts | $28.57 | 300 | -6.7% | Not checked yet | $199 |
| Michigan | $26.02 | 230 | -12.9% | Not checked yet | $164 |
| Minnesota | $28.40 | 220 | -7.7% | No, local only | $188 |
| Mississippi | $20.64 | 80 | -16.7% | Not checked yet | $133 |
| Missouri | $24.11 | 220 | -4.8% | Not checked yet | $165 |
| Montana | $27.02 | 110 | -12.5% | Not checked yet | $163 |
| Nebraska | $23.59 | 50 | -6.7% | Not checked yet | $148 |
| Nevada | $22.81 | 170 | 0.0% | No, local only | $165 |
| New Hampshire | $27.17 | 40 | -16.7% | Not checked yet | $161 |
| New Jersey | $27.41 | 480 | -13.0% | Yes | $190 |
| New Mexico | $20.15 | 140 | -7.1% | Not checked yet | $139 |
| New York | $29.73 | 960 | +12.3% | Not checked yet | $183 |
| North Carolina | $22.07 | 480 | -4.3% | Yes | $138 |
| North Dakota | $21.30 | 70 | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $163 |
| Ohio | $22.96 | 400 | -12.5% | Not checked yet | $166 |
| Oklahoma | $18.59 | 180 | 0.0% | Yes | $137 |
| Oregon | $24.25 | 250 | +5.9% | Yes | $174 |
| Pennsylvania | $25.08 | 530 | -12.5% | Not checked yet | $162 |
| Rhode Island | $27.58 | 80 | -11.1% | Not checked yet | $168 |
| South Carolina | $22.39 | 140 | -9.1% | Not checked yet | $139 |
| South Dakota | Not published | Not published | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $140 |
| Tennessee | $24.16 | 340 | -2.9% | No, local only | $141 |
| Texas | $21.09 | 1,420 | +4.5% | Yes | $138 |
| Utah | $26.69 | 180 | +5.0% | Not checked yet | $155 |
| Vermont | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not checked yet | $160 |
| Virginia | $25.76 | 430 | -6.9% | Yes | $153 |
| Washington | $27.89 | 380 | +15.6% | Not checked yet | $194 |
| West Virginia | $27.25 | 50 | 0.0% | Not checked yet | $156 |
| Wisconsin | $23.25 | 130 | -4.3% | Not checked yet | $169 |
| Wyoming | Not published | Not published | +50.0% | Not checked yet | $160 |
How this report is made
Pay and employment are cells from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics files for May 2025 (state file, national file), occupation code 49-9094, all industries. They count people on a payroll; owner-operators are not in them. A cell BLS did not publish reads "Not published" and is empty in the CSV.
The rate to bill is the labor rate calculator's formula with its starting assumptions listed above and only the wage changed: the yearly cost of the worker plus overhead, spread over the billable hours, then a profit margin on top.
Job projections are each state labor market office's long-term projection for 2022 to 2032, published together by Projections Central. A state missing from that file has no figure here.
Licensing counts only rows of the locksmith license guide that an official board or statute page confirmed. States not checked yet are shown that way, never guessed. This is not legal advice.
Job prices come from the koira.ai cost guides. The national band is worked out from the published guides each one lists. State prices are Koira estimates: the labor share of the band is scaled by the state's BLS median wage for the work over the national median, held to 0.7 to 1.4. See the job prices by state report for the same method across trades.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025; Projections Central, long-term occupational projections 2022 to 2032 (state labor market offices); Fixr, locksmith cost; HomeAdvisor, locksmith cost; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (state and national files).
Running a locksmith business? See how locksmith businesses run on Koira, free on the Office plan.
Data as of: BLS wages and employment, May 2025. Job projections, 2022 to 2032 (Projections Central). License rows checked October 9, 2026. Cost guides checked October 9, 2026. All reports.