Do carpenters make more in Charlottesville or Washington?

Washington pays more: the median is $56,090 in Charlottesville and $60,800 in Washington, a 8% difference.

Carpenter salary in Charlottesville, VA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Carpenters in the Charlottesville, VA area earn a median of $56,090 a year, or $26.97 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $72,800 a year. That's 1% more than the Virginia median of $55,690.

Median yearly pay$56,090

Bottom 10% under$40,110Top 10% over$72,800

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $19.29/hr
Jobs in this area: 630
After cost of living: $56,570
Median hourly pay: $26.97/hr
vs U.S. median: −7%
vs Virginia median: +1%
Mean (average) pay: $55,930 a year · $26.89 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 16820, Charlottesville, VA). 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 Charlottesville, VA 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	$19.29	$40,110
25th percentile	$22.28	$46,350
Median (50th)	$26.97	$56,090
75th percentile	$29.53	$61,410
90th percentile	$35.00	$72,800

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

How Charlottesville, VA compares

Charlottesville ranks 2nd of 11 Virginia metro areas for carpenter pay.
Carpenters are more concentrated in the Charlottesville area than nationally: 5.5 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.3 times the U.S. share.

Other Virginia metro areas

Other trades in Charlottesville, VA

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

Questions

Do carpenters make more in Charlottesville or Washington?: Washington pays more: the median is $56,090 in Charlottesville and $60,800 in Washington, a 8% 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 16820 (Charlottesville, VA). 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 (99.1, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures