- The middle half earn between $44.95 and $66.58 an hour.
- Pennsylvania ranks 29th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Pennsylvania pays more than 2 of its 6 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 6,840 general contractors on payrolls in Pennsylvania.
- At the state median wage, a general contracting business needs to bill about $161.98 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
General Contractor pay in Pennsylvania, 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 | $37.55 | $78,100 | $33.50 |
| 25th percentile | $44.95 | $93,500 | $42.57 |
| Median | $52.04 | $108,250 | $55.28 |
| 75th percentile | $66.58 | $138,490 | $72.91 |
| 90th percentile | $83.25 | $173,160 | $91.08 |
| Average (mean) | $58.17 | $121,000 | $59.79 |
Pay is bunched up in Pennsylvania. The top tenth earn $83.25 an hour or more, about 2.2 times the $37.55 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.7 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
The floor is higher than nationally ($37.55 against $33.50) but the ceiling is lower ($83.25 against $91.08), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average wage, $58.17, sits 12% above the median. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up, so the median is the better guide to what a typical general contractor makes.
How Pennsylvania compares with other states
Over a full year, the Pennsylvania median of $108,250 is $6,740 less than the national $114,990.
In the state ranking, Pennsylvania sits 29th, between Illinois ($52.48) and South Carolina ($51.98). The range runs from $41.50 in Arkansas to $74.69 in New York.
Against its neighboring states, Pennsylvania is in the middle: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and New York pay more, and Ohio and West Virginia pay less.
BLS wages are not adjusted for living costs. Lower pay often comes with lower housing costs, so the gap in take-home value can be smaller than the gap in wages.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Pennsylvania |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | $52.04 | $108,250 | |
| Delaware | $63.53 | $132,150 | +$11.49 an hour |
| Maryland | $61.70 | $128,330 | +$9.66 an hour |
| New Jersey | $66.46 | $138,230 | +$14.42 an hour |
| New York | $74.69 | $155,360 | +$22.65 an hour |
| Ohio | $49.03 | $101,980 | −$3.01 an hour |
| West Virginia | $46.03 | $95,740 | −$6.01 an hour |
How many general contractors work in Pennsylvania
About 6,840 general contractors work on payrolls in Pennsylvania, 1.8% of the 380,360 nationwide, the 16th largest count among the states.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 1.1 per 1,000 jobs, 0.46 times the national share.
What a general contracting business in Pennsylvania should charge
A lower wage helps the price less than you might expect, because the overhead does not shrink with it. Here is a general contracting business in Pennsylvania paying the state median of $52.04, on the labor rate calculator's 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 | $52.04 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $116,524 |
| Break-even rate | ($116,524 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $137.68 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $137.68 ÷ 0.85 | $161.98 |
That is $161.98 per billable hour, 3.1 times the wage, and $5.69 less than the $167.67 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $66.58 in Pennsylvania, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $187.51.
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 Pennsylvania
- Licensing. What Pennsylvania asks for before you can work on your own: General contractor license in Pennsylvania.
- 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.