- The middle half earn between $48.77 and $76.65 an hour.
- Only 9 states pay general contractors more at the median.
- Hawaii pays less than both nearby states it is compared with.
- BLS counts about 2,890 general contractors on payrolls in Hawaii.
- At the state median wage, a general contracting business needs to bill about $179.44 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
General Contractor pay in Hawaii, bottom to top
BLS has no separate wage figure for general contractors. These are its numbers for construction managers, the group BLS files general contractors under. They count managers on a payroll, so owners who run their own contracting business are not in them.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $33.76 | $70,230 | $33.50 |
| 25th percentile | $48.77 | $101,450 | $42.57 |
| Median | $61.98 | $128,910 | $55.28 |
| 75th percentile | $76.65 | $159,440 | $72.91 |
| 90th percentile | $92.30 | $191,980 | $91.08 |
| Average (mean) | $62.39 | $129,760 | $59.79 |
From the bottom tenth ($33.76) to the top tenth ($92.30), the top of the scale pays about 2.7 times the bottom in Hawaii, close to the 2.7 times spread for general contractors nationwide.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $33.76 against $33.50 at the bottom tenth, and $92.30 against $91.08 at the top.
The average, $62.39, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Hawaii compares with other states
Over a full year, the Hawaii median of $128,910 is $13,920 more than the national $114,990.
In the state ranking, Hawaii sits 10th, between New Hampshire ($62.15) and Maryland ($61.70). The range runs from $41.50 in Arkansas to $74.69 in New York.
Hawaii has no land border, so it is set here against California and Alaska. Both pay more than Hawaii.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Hawaii. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Nearby state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Hawaii |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | $61.98 | $128,910 | |
| California | $64.02 | $133,160 | +$2.04 an hour |
| Alaska | $66.92 | $139,190 | +$4.94 an hour |
How many general contractors work in Hawaii
About 2,890 general contractors work on payrolls in Hawaii, 0.8% of the 380,360 nationwide, the 33rd largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 4.6 of every 1,000 jobs in Hawaii, 1.9 times the national share.
What a general contracting business in Hawaii should charge
Higher wages in Hawaii go straight into the price. Take a general contracting business in Hawaii paying the state median of $61.98 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 | $61.98 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $138,781 |
| Break-even rate | ($138,781 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $152.52 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $152.52 ÷ 0.85 | $179.44 |
That is $179.44 per billable hour, 2.9 times the wage, and $11.77 more than the $167.67 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $76.65 in Hawaii, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $205.20.
At this wage the pay itself is the biggest part of the price, so every raise shows up in the rate: a dollar more an hour adds about $1.76 per billed hour.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a general contractor in Hawaii
- Licensing. What Hawaii asks for before you can work on your own: General contractor license in Hawaii.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how general contractors 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 11-9021, construction managers, 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: general contractor salary by state.