- The middle half earn between $35.88 and $55.00 an hour.
- No state pays plumbers more at the median.
- The District of Columbia pays more than both neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 1,010 plumbers on payrolls in the District of Columbia.
- At the state median wage, a plumbing business needs to bill about $155.89 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Plumber pay in the District of Columbia, bottom to top
BLS counts plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters as one group, so the figures include industrial pipe work as well as service and new construction plumbing.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $25.15 | $52,310 | $21.22 |
| 25th percentile | $35.88 | $74,630 | $24.13 |
| Median | $48.57 | $101,020 | $30.67 |
| 75th percentile | $55.00 | $114,400 | $40.92 |
| 90th percentile | $56.34 | $117,180 | $52.13 |
| Average (mean) | $43.85 | $91,200 | $34.70 |
Pay is bunched up in the District of Columbia. The top tenth earn $56.34 an hour or more, about 2.2 times the $25.15 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2.5 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $25.15 against $21.22 at the bottom tenth, and $56.34 against $52.13 at the top.
The average wage ($43.85) is a little under the median, so the low end of the range stretches further than the high end in the District of Columbia.
How the District of Columbia compares with other states
Over a full year, the the District of Columbia median of $101,020 is $37,220 more than the national $63,800.
No state pays more. The next highest is Illinois at $48.05, and the lowest is Arkansas at $23.39.
The District of Columbia pays plumbers more than any of its neighboring states, Maryland and Virginia. 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 the District of Columbia. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
How many plumbers work in the District of Columbia
The District of Columbia has one of the smaller workforces in the trade: 1,010 plumbers on payrolls, 0.2% of the 465,840 nationwide.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 1.4 per 1,000 jobs, 0.48 times the national share.
What a plumbing business in the District of Columbia should charge
Higher wages in the District of Columbia go straight into the price. Take a plumbing business in the District of Columbia paying the state median of $48.57 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 | $48.57 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $108,754 |
| Break-even rate | ($108,754 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $132.50 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $132.50 ÷ 0.85 | $155.89 |
That is $155.89 per billable hour, 3.2 times the wage, and $31.44 more than the $124.45 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $55.00 in the District of Columbia, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $167.18.
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 plumbing labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Working as a plumber in the District of Columbia
- Licensing. What the District of Columbia asks for before you can work on your own: Plumbing license in District of Columbia.
- Running the business. Quotes, invoices, booking and your website in one place: how plumbing companies 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 47-2152, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, 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: plumber salary by state.