Lineman salary in Milwaukee, WI
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Linemen in the Milwaukee–Waukesha, WI area earn a median of $109,000 a year, or $52.40 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $121,140. That's 3% more than the Wisconsin median of $105,820.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $30.48/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 530
- After cost of living
- $112,440
- Median hourly pay
- $52.40/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +14%
- vs Wisconsin median
- +3%
- Mean (average) pay
- $104,720 a year · $50.35 an hour
Pay by percentile
What linemen in Milwaukee, WI 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 | $30.48 | $63,390 |
| 25th percentile | $51.33 | $106,770 |
| Median (50th) | $52.40 | $109,000 |
| 75th percentile | $57.62 | $119,850 |
| 90th percentile | $58.24 | $121,140 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Milwaukee, WI compares
- Milwaukee has the highest lineman median of the 11 Wisconsin metro areas with published pay.
- Linemen are less concentrated in the Milwaukee area than nationally: 0.6 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.77 times the U.S. share.
Other Wisconsin metro areas
Other trades in Milwaukee, WI
Questions
- Do linemen make more in Milwaukee or Green Bay?
- Milwaukee pays more: the median is $109,000 in Milwaukee and $108,000 in Green Bay, a 1% 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 33340 (Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI). 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 (96.9, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures