TradeSalary

Lineman salary in Rochester, NY

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Linemen in the Rochester, NY area earn a median of $105,110 a year, or $50.53 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $127,750. Statewide, linemen earn a median of $121,280; Rochester is 13% below it.

Median yearly pay$105,110
Bottom 10% under$58,770Top 10% over$127,750
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$28.26/hr
Jobs in this area
310
After cost of living
$108,320
Median hourly pay
$50.53/hr
vs U.S. median
+10%
vs New York median
−13%
Mean (average) pay
$98,570 a year · $47.39 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 40380, Rochester, NY). Excludes self-employed linemen. 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 linemen in Rochester, NY 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$28.26$58,770
25th percentile$29.80$61,990
Median (50th)$50.53$105,110
75th percentile$60.75$126,350
90th percentile$61.42$127,750

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

How Rochester, NY compares

  • Rochester ranks 8th of 9 New York metro areas for lineman pay.
  • Linemen are less concentrated in the Rochester area than nationally: 0.6 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.74 times the U.S. share.

Other New York metro areas

Other trades in Rochester, NY

Questions

Do linemen make more in Rochester or Kiryas Joel?
Kiryas Joel pays more: the median is $105,110 in Rochester and $135,400 in Kiryas Joel, a 22% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 49-9051 (Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers), area code 40380 (Rochester, NY). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed linemen 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 (97.0, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures