TradeSalary

Carpenter salary in Columbia, MO

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Carpenters in the Columbia, MO area earn a median of $56,160 a year, or $27.00 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $87,910. Across all of Missouri, the median is $60,840, so Columbia pays 8% less than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$56,160
Bottom 10% under$36,130Top 10% over$87,910
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$17.37/hr
Jobs in this area
510
After cost of living
$62,790
Median hourly pay
$27.00/hr
vs U.S. median
−7%
vs Missouri median
−8%
Mean (average) pay
$57,900 a year · $27.84 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 17860, Columbia, MO). 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 Columbia, MO 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$17.37$36,130
25th percentile$21.95$45,660
Median (50th)$27.00$56,160
75th percentile$33.85$70,400
90th percentile$42.27$87,910

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

How Columbia, MO compares

  • Columbia ranks 6th of 8 Missouri metro areas for carpenter pay.
  • Carpenters are more concentrated in the Columbia area than nationally: 4.8 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.1 times the U.S. share.

Other Missouri metro areas

Other trades in Columbia, MO

Questions

Do carpenters make more in Columbia or St. Louis?
St. Louis pays more: the median is $56,160 in Columbia and $70,990 in St. Louis, a 21% 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 17860 (Columbia, MO). 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 (89.4, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures