Do carpenters make more in Salem or Portland?

Portland pays more: the median is $59,730 in Salem and $73,710 in Portland, a 19% difference.

Carpenter salary in Salem, OR

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Carpenters in the Salem, OR area earn a median of $59,730 a year, or $28.71 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $99,370. Across all of Oregon, the median is $62,870, so Salem pays 5% less than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$59,730

Bottom 10% under$37,360Top 10% over$99,370

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $17.96/hr
Jobs in this area: 1,720
After cost of living: $57,630
Median hourly pay: $28.71/hr
vs U.S. median: −1%
vs Oregon median: −5%
Mean (average) pay: $63,060 a year · $30.32 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 41420, Salem, OR). 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 Salem, OR 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.

Percentile	Hourly	Yearly
10th percentile	$17.96	$37,360
25th percentile	$23.19	$48,240
Median (50th)	$28.71	$59,730
75th percentile	$36.75	$76,440
90th percentile	$47.77	$99,370

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

How Salem, OR compares

Salem ranks 5th of 8 Oregon metro areas for carpenter pay.
Carpenters are more concentrated in the Salem area than nationally: 9.1 of every 1,000 jobs, 2.1 times the U.S. share.

Other Oregon metro areas

Other trades in Salem, OR

Electrician HVAC technician Welder Lineman Plumber Diesel mechanic Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic Roofer

Questions

Do carpenters make more in Salem or Portland?: Portland pays more: the median is $59,730 in Salem and $73,710 in Portland, a 19% 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 41420 (Salem, OR). 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 (103.6, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures