Do linemen make more in Salem or Eugene?

Eugene pays more: the median is $134,500 in Salem and $140,270 in Eugene, a 4% difference.

Lineman salary in Salem, OR

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Linemen in the Salem, OR area earn a median of $134,500 a year, or $64.66 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $157,200. Across all of Oregon, the median is $131,090, so Salem pays 3% more than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$134,500

Bottom 10% under$58,750Top 10% over$157,200

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $28.25/hr
Jobs in this area: 180
After cost of living: $129,760
Median hourly pay: $64.66/hr
vs U.S. median: +41%
vs Oregon median: +3%
Mean (average) pay: $118,840 a year · $57.14 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 41420, Salem, OR). 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 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	$28.25	$58,750
25th percentile	$47.87	$99,560
Median (50th)	$64.66	$134,500
75th percentile	$65.76	$136,780
90th percentile	$75.58	$157,200

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 3rd of 6 Oregon metro areas for lineman pay.
Linemen are more concentrated in the Salem area than nationally: 0.9 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.1 times the U.S. share.

Other Oregon metro areas

Other trades in Salem, OR

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

Questions

Do linemen make more in Salem or Eugene?: Eugene pays more: the median is $134,500 in Salem and $140,270 in Eugene, a 4% 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 41420 (Salem, OR). 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 (103.6, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures