- The middle half earn between $22.00 and $29.50 an hour.
- Maine ranks 23rd of the 48 states with published figures for median pay in this trade.
- Maine pays less than its only neighbor, New Hampshire.
- BLS counts about 140 locksmiths on payrolls in Maine.
- At the state median wage, a locksmith business needs to bill about $115.05 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Locksmith pay in Maine, bottom to top
BLS files these as locksmiths and safe repairers: the people who open and repair locks, make keys, change locks and combinations, and install and repair safes.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $20.68 | $43,010 | $17.08 |
| 25th percentile | $22.00 | $45,750 | $20.75 |
| Median | $25.32 | $52,670 | $24.68 |
| 75th percentile | $29.50 | $61,350 | $31.04 |
| 90th percentile | $31.92 | $66,390 | $38.17 |
| Average (mean) | $26.23 | $54,560 | $26.67 |
Pay is bunched up in Maine. The top tenth earn $31.92 an hour or more, about 1.5 times the $20.68 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.2 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 ($20.68 against $17.08) but the ceiling is lower ($31.92 against $38.17), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average, $26.23, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Maine compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $52,670 in Maine against $51,320 nationally, $1,350 more.
In the state ranking, Maine sits 23rd, between Kansas ($25.45) and Pennsylvania ($25.08). The range runs from $17.20 in Arkansas to $36.89 in the District of Columbia.
Every one of the neighboring states pays locksmiths more than Maine. The closest is New Hampshire at $27.17, and the biggest gap is with New Hampshire.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Maine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | $25.32 | $52,670 | |
| New Hampshire | $27.17 | $56,510 | +$1.85 an hour |
How many locksmiths work in Maine
About 140 locksmiths work on payrolls in Maine, 0.9% of the 15,040 nationwide, the 29th largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 0.2 of every 1,000 jobs in Maine, 2.2 times the national share.
What a locksmith business in Maine should charge
Say you run a locksmith business in Maine and pay the state median of $25.32 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 | $25.32 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $56,695 |
| Break-even rate | ($56,695 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $97.80 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $97.80 ÷ 0.85 | $115.05 |
That is $115.05 per billable hour, 4.5 times the wage, and $1.12 more than the $113.93 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $29.50 in Maine, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $122.40.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $22.00, the rate only drops to $109.22.
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 locksmith in Maine
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how locksmiths 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 49-9094, locksmiths and safe repairers, 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: locksmith salary by state.