- The middle half earn between $29.74 and $52.13 an hour.
- Only 5 states pay plumbers more at the median.
- Massachusetts pays more than all 5 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 13,460 plumbers on payrolls in Massachusetts.
- At the state median wage, a plumbing business needs to bill about $149.86 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Plumber pay in Massachusetts, 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 | $25.01 | $52,010 | $21.22 |
| 25th percentile | $29.74 | $61,860 | $24.13 |
| Median | $45.14 | $93,880 | $30.67 |
| 75th percentile | $52.13 | $108,430 | $40.92 |
| 90th percentile | $64.94 | $135,080 | $52.13 |
| Average (mean) | $43.46 | $90,410 | $34.70 |
From the bottom tenth ($25.01) to the top tenth ($64.94), the top of the scale pays about 2.6 times the bottom in Massachusetts, close to the 2.5 times spread for plumbers nationwide.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $25.01 against $21.22 at the bottom tenth, and $64.94 against $52.13 at the top.
The average wage ($43.46) is a little under the median, so the low end of the range stretches further than the high end in Massachusetts.
How Massachusetts compares with other states
Over a full year, the Massachusetts median of $93,880 is $30,080 more than the national $63,800.
In the state ranking, Massachusetts sits 6th, between Alaska ($45.15) and Wisconsin ($39.04). The range runs from $23.39 in Arkansas to $48.57 in the District of Columbia.
Massachusetts pays plumbers more than any of its neighboring states, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. 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 Massachusetts. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Massachusetts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $45.14 | $93,880 | |
| Connecticut | $37.16 | $77,280 | −$7.98 an hour |
| New Hampshire | $32.12 | $66,810 | −$13.02 an hour |
| New York | $37.26 | $77,490 | −$7.88 an hour |
| Rhode Island | $36.77 | $76,470 | −$8.37 an hour |
| Vermont | $29.89 | $62,170 | −$15.25 an hour |
How many plumbers work in Massachusetts
About 13,460 plumbers work on payrolls in Massachusetts, 2.9% of the 465,840 nationwide, the 11th largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 3.7 of every 1,000 jobs in Massachusetts, 1.2 times the national share.
What a plumbing business in Massachusetts should charge
Higher wages in Massachusetts go straight into the price. Take a plumbing business in Massachusetts paying the state median of $45.14 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 | $45.14 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $101,074 |
| Break-even rate | ($101,074 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $127.38 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $127.38 ÷ 0.85 | $149.86 |
That is $149.86 per billable hour, 3.3 times the wage, and $25.41 more than the $124.45 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $52.13 in Massachusetts, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $162.14.
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 Massachusetts
- Licensing. What Massachusetts asks for before you can work on your own: Plumbing license in Massachusetts.
- 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.