- The middle half earn between $27.00 and $51.42 an hour.
- Only 1 state pays carpenters more at the median.
- Illinois pays more than all 5 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 19,570 carpenters on payrolls in Illinois.
- At the state median wage, a carpentry or remodeling business needs to bill about $137.29 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Carpenter pay in Illinois, bottom to top
The BLS carpenter group covers framing, finish and remodel carpenters, on homes and on commercial jobs.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $19.18 | $39,890 | $19.43 |
| 25th percentile | $27.00 | $56,160 | $23.32 |
| Median | $37.98 | $79,000 | $29.12 |
| 75th percentile | $51.42 | $106,950 | $36.94 |
| 90th percentile | $56.57 | $117,660 | $48.03 |
| Average (mean) | $38.62 | $80,320 | $31.55 |
Pay spreads out a lot in Illinois. The bottom tenth earn $19.18 an hour or less while the top tenth earn $56.57 or more, a gap of 2.9 times against 2.5 nationally. Where a carpenter sits on that range matters as much as the state.
The bottom of the scale is lower than nationally ($19.18 against $19.43) while the top is higher ($56.57 against $48.03), so the climb from new hire to top earner is longer here.
The average, $38.62, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Illinois compares with other states
Over a full year, the Illinois median of $79,000 is $18,420 more than the national $60,580.
In the state ranking, Illinois sits 2nd, between Hawaii ($41.00) and California ($36.50). The range runs from $22.55 in Oklahoma to $41.00 in Hawaii.
Illinois pays carpenters more than any of its neighboring states, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin. Someone working near the border can earn more by taking work on this side of it.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Illinois. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
How many carpenters work in Illinois
About 19,570 carpenters work on payrolls in Illinois, 2.9% of the 670,090 nationwide, the 8th largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 3.2 per 1,000 jobs, 0.74 times the national share.
What a carpentry or remodeling business in Illinois should charge
Higher wages in Illinois go straight into the price. Take a carpentry or remodeling business in Illinois paying the state median of $37.98 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $37.98 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $85,042 |
| Break-even rate | ($85,042 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $116.69 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $116.69 ÷ 0.85 | $137.29 |
That is $137.29 per billable hour, 3.6 times the wage, and $15.56 more than the $121.73 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $51.42 in Illinois, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $160.89.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $27.00, the rate only drops to $118.00.
Overhead, at $60 of every billed hour, and the unbilled hours move this rate more than a raise does. A dollar more in wages adds about $1.76 to the rate.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a carpenter in Illinois
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how remodelers run on Koira.
- Getting found. The free Koira report checks how your business shows up in search and on maps against shops near you.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 47-2031, carpenters, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: carpenter salary by state.