- The middle half earn between $28.86 and $51.64 an hour.
- Only 7 states pay plumbers more at the median.
- Washington pays more than 1 of its 2 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 12,470 plumbers on payrolls in Washington.
- At the state median wage, a plumbing business needs to bill about $139.01 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Plumber pay in Washington, 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 | $23.79 | $49,490 | $21.22 |
| 25th percentile | $28.86 | $60,030 | $24.13 |
| Median | $38.96 | $81,030 | $30.67 |
| 75th percentile | $51.64 | $107,420 | $40.92 |
| 90th percentile | $68.20 | $141,860 | $52.13 |
| Average (mean) | $42.69 | $88,800 | $34.70 |
Pay spreads out a lot in Washington. The bottom tenth earn $23.79 an hour or less while the top tenth earn $68.20 or more, a gap of 2.9 times against 2.5 nationally. Where a plumber sits on that range matters as much as the state.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $23.79 against $21.22 at the bottom tenth, and $68.20 against $52.13 at the top.
The average wage, $42.69, sits 10% above the median. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up, so the median is the better guide to what a typical plumber makes.
How Washington compares with other states
Over a full year, the Washington median of $81,030 is $17,230 more than the national $63,800.
In the state ranking, Washington sits 8th, between Wisconsin ($39.04) and Michigan ($38.56). The range runs from $23.39 in Arkansas to $48.57 in the District of Columbia.
Against its neighboring states, Washington is in the middle: Oregon pays more, and Idaho pays less.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Washington. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
How many plumbers work in Washington
About 12,470 plumbers work on payrolls in Washington, 2.7% of the 465,840 nationwide, the 12th largest count among the states.
That is 3.5 of every 1,000 jobs in Washington, close to the trade's share of jobs nationally.
What a plumbing business in Washington should charge
Higher wages in Washington go straight into the price. Take a plumbing business in Washington paying the state median of $38.96 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 | $38.96 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $87,236 |
| Break-even rate | ($87,236 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $118.16 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $118.16 ÷ 0.85 | $139.01 |
That is $139.01 per billable hour, 3.6 times the wage, and $14.56 more than the $124.45 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $51.64 in Washington, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $161.28.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $28.86, the rate only drops to $121.27.
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 Washington
- Licensing. What Washington asks for before you can work on your own: Plumbing license in Washington.
- 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.