- The middle half earn between $20.90 and $28.98 an hour.
- Maine ranks 28th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Maine pays less than its only neighbor, New Hampshire.
- BLS counts about 5,820 handymen on payrolls in Maine.
- At the state median wage, a handyman business needs to bill about $112.31 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Handyman pay in Maine, bottom to top
BLS has no separate figure for handymen. These are its numbers for general maintenance and repair workers, the closest group: people who keep buildings and equipment in repair using the skills of two or more trades. Real estate, schools and government are among the top industries BLS lists for them.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $18.00 | $37,440 | $17.00 |
| 25th percentile | $20.90 | $43,470 | $19.64 |
| Median | $23.76 | $49,430 | $23.84 |
| 75th percentile | $28.98 | $60,280 | $30.10 |
| 90th percentile | $36.33 | $75,570 | $37.11 |
| Average (mean) | $25.48 | $52,990 | $25.86 |
From the bottom tenth ($18.00) to the top tenth ($36.33), the top of the scale pays about 2 times the bottom in Maine, close to the 2.2 times spread for handymen nationwide.
The floor is higher than nationally ($18.00 against $17.00) but the ceiling is lower ($36.33 against $37.11), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average wage, $25.48, sits 7% above the median. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up, so the median is the better guide to what a typical handyman makes.
How Maine compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $49,430 in Maine against $49,590 nationally, $160 less.
In the state ranking, Maine sits 28th, between Virginia ($23.79) and Pennsylvania ($23.70). The range runs from $18.70 in West Virginia to $29.00 in the District of Columbia.
Every one of the neighboring states pays handymen more than Maine. The closest is New Hampshire at $25.40, and the biggest gap is with New Hampshire.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Maine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | $23.76 | $49,430 | |
| New Hampshire | $25.40 | $52,830 | +$1.64 an hour |
How many handymen work in Maine
About 5,820 handymen work on payrolls in Maine, 0.4% of the 1,529,700 nationwide, the 41st largest count among the states.
That is 9.1 of every 1,000 jobs in Maine, close to the trade's share of jobs nationally.
What a handyman business in Maine should charge
Say you run a handyman business in Maine and pay the state median of $23.76 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on 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 | $23.76 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $53,201 |
| Break-even rate | ($53,201 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $95.47 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $95.47 ÷ 0.85 | $112.31 |
That is $112.31 per billable hour, 4.7 times the wage, and almost the same as the $112.46 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $28.98 in Maine, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $121.48.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $20.90, the rate only drops to $107.29.
At this wage, overhead is most of the price: $60 of every billed hour goes to it before anyone is paid. Spreading the same overhead over more billable hours, with a second person or less drive time, brings the rate down fastest.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a handyman in Maine
- Licensing. What Maine asks for before you can work on your own: Handyman license in Maine.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how handyman businesses 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 49-9071, maintenance and repair workers, general, 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: handyman salary by state.