- The middle half earn between $29.32 and $45.37 an hour.
- Only 9 states pay plumbers more at the median.
- Montana pays more than all 4 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 1,860 plumbers on payrolls in Montana.
- At the state median wage, a plumbing business needs to bill about $138.10 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Plumber pay in Montana, 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 | $23.20 | $48,250 | $21.22 |
| 25th percentile | $29.32 | $60,990 | $24.13 |
| Median | $38.44 | $79,960 | $30.67 |
| 75th percentile | $45.37 | $94,370 | $40.92 |
| 90th percentile | $48.49 | $100,860 | $52.13 |
| Average (mean) | $37.59 | $78,190 | $34.70 |
Pay is bunched up in Montana. The top tenth earn $48.49 an hour or more, about 2.1 times the $23.20 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.
The floor is higher than nationally ($23.20 against $21.22) but the ceiling is lower ($48.49 against $52.13), which squeezes pay toward the middle.
The average wage ($37.59) is a little under the median, so the low end of the range stretches further than the high end in Montana.
How Montana compares with other states
Over a full year, the Montana median of $79,960 is $16,160 more than the national $63,800.
In the state ranking, Montana sits 10th, between Michigan ($38.56) and New Jersey ($37.61). The range runs from $23.39 in Arkansas to $48.57 in the District of Columbia.
Montana pays plumbers more than any of its neighboring states, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. 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 Montana. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Montana |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montana | $38.44 | $79,960 | |
| Idaho | $25.18 | $52,380 | −$13.26 an hour |
| North Dakota | $30.56 | $63,560 | −$7.88 an hour |
| South Dakota | $24.82 | $51,620 | −$13.62 an hour |
| Wyoming | $30.01 | $62,410 | −$8.43 an hour |
How many plumbers work in Montana
About 1,860 plumbers work on payrolls in Montana, 0.4% of the 465,840 nationwide, the 42nd largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 3.6 of every 1,000 jobs in Montana, 1.2 times the national share.
What a plumbing business in Montana should charge
Higher wages in Montana go straight into the price. Take a plumbing business in Montana paying the state median of $38.44 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 | $38.44 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $86,072 |
| Break-even rate | ($86,072 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $117.38 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $117.38 ÷ 0.85 | $138.10 |
That is $138.10 per billable hour, 3.6 times the wage, and $13.65 more than the $124.45 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $45.37 in Montana, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $150.27.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $29.32, the rate only drops to $122.08.
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 Montana
- Licensing. What Montana asks for before you can work on your own: Plumbing license in Montana.
- 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.