TradeSalary

Carpenter salary in Rockford, IL

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Carpenters in the Rockford, IL area earn a median of $72,770 a year, or $34.99 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $104,360 a year. That's 8% less than the Illinois median of $79,000.

Median yearly pay$72,770
Bottom 10% under$46,470Top 10% over$104,360
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$22.34/hr
Jobs in this area
810
After cost of living
$78,970
Median hourly pay
$34.99/hr
vs U.S. median
+20%
vs Illinois median
−8%
Mean (average) pay
$75,240 a year · $36.17 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 40420, Rockford, IL). Excludes self-employed carpenters. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What carpenters in Rockford, IL earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

PercentileHourlyYearly
10th percentile$22.34$46,470
25th percentile$27.33$56,840
Median (50th)$34.99$72,770
75th percentile$47.16$98,090
90th percentile$50.17$104,360

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Rockford, IL compares

  • Rockford ranks 7th of 12 Illinois metro areas for carpenter pay.
  • Carpenters are more concentrated in the Rockford area than nationally: 5.9 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.4 times the U.S. share.

Other Illinois metro areas

Other trades in Rockford, IL

Questions

Do carpenters make more in Rockford or Chicago?
Chicago pays more: the median is $72,770 in Rockford and $80,440 in Chicago, a 10% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2031 (Carpenters), area code 40420 (Rockford, IL). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed carpenters and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (92.2, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures