TradeSalary

Lineman salary in Blacksburg, VA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Linemen in the Blacksburg–Christiansburg–Radford, VA area earn a median of $84,840 a year, or $40.79 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $104,280. Statewide, linemen earn a median of $76,590; Blacksburg is 11% above it.

Median yearly pay$84,840
Bottom 10% under$45,320Top 10% over$104,280
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$21.79/hr
Jobs in this area
50
After cost of living
$91,510
Median hourly pay
$40.79/hr
vs U.S. median
−11%
vs Virginia median
+11%
Mean (average) pay
$81,510 a year · $39.19 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 13980, Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA). 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 Blacksburg, 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.

PercentileHourlyYearly
10th percentile$21.79$45,320
25th percentile$30.03$62,460
Median (50th)$40.79$84,840
75th percentile$50.14$104,280
90th percentile$50.14$104,280

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

How Blacksburg, VA compares

  • Blacksburg ranks 2nd of 6 Virginia metro areas for lineman pay.
  • Linemen are less concentrated in the Blacksburg area than nationally: 0.7 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.79 times the U.S. share.

Other Virginia metro areas

Other trades in Blacksburg, VA

Questions

Do linemen make more in Blacksburg or Washington?
Washington pays more: the median is $84,840 in Blacksburg and $95,480 in Washington, a 11% 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 13980 (Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA). 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 (92.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures