Plumber salary in California
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Plumbers in California earn a median of $72,830 a year, or $35.01 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $131,100 a year. That's 14% more than the national median of $63,800, 17th of 51 states and DC.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $22.76/hr
- Jobs in California
- 47,660
- After cost of living
- $65,780
- Median hourly pay
- $35.01/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +14%
- Rank among states
- 17th of 51
- Mean (average) pay
- $82,320 a year · $39.58 an hour
Pay by percentile
What plumbers in California 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 | $22.76 | $47,350 |
| 25th percentile | $28.36 | $58,980 |
| Median (50th) | $35.01 | $72,830 |
| 75th percentile | $48.17 | $100,200 |
| 90th percentile | $63.03 | $131,100 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
Pay over time
The median plumber wage in California rose 16.7%, from $62,390 in May 2021 to $72,830 in May 2025. Prices rose 19.4% over the same period, so after inflation it fell 2.2%.
| Year | Median a year | Median an hour |
|---|---|---|
| May 2021 | $62,390 | $30.00/hr |
| May 2022 | $62,660 | $30.12/hr |
| May 2023 | $62,990 | $30.28/hr |
| May 2024 | $68,390 | $32.88/hr |
| May 2025 | $72,830 | $35.01/hr |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, each May release; inflation from the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, May of each year). BLS cautions against reading much into year-to-year changes, so we compare the first and last years. How we compare years
How California compares
- Plumbers are less concentrated in California than nationally: 2.6 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.87 times the U.S. share.
Pay by metro area
- San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara$107,560
- San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont$77,880
- San Diego–Chula Vista–Carlsbad$72,510
- Vallejo$71,560
- Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim$71,110
- Santa Cruz–Watsonville$68,130
- Bakersfield–Delano$66,450
- Napa$65,420
See all California metro areas
- Sacramento–Roseville–Folsom$65,210
- Santa Rosa–Petaluma$64,700
- Salinas$64,440
- Fresno$64,400
- Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario$63,920
- Modesto$63,280
- San Luis Obispo–Paso Robles$63,090
- Stockton–Lodi$62,900
- Hanford–Corcoran$62,860
- El Centro$62,390
- Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura$62,300
- Redding$61,300
- Yuba City$61,120
- Santa Maria–Santa Barbara$61,000
- Chico$60,730
- Visalia$60,720
- Merced$60,230
Rural California
- North Coast Region$72,760
- North Valley-Northern Mountains Region$70,770
- Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region$64,260
Other trades in California
Bidding federal work? Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rates in California list what contractors must pay plumbers on federal and federally assisted jobs, county by county.
Questions
- Where in California do plumbers earn the most?
- Among California metro areas, San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara has the highest median at $107,560 a year, and Merced the lowest at $60,230.
About this data
Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2152 (Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters), area code 06. BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed plumbers 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 (110.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures