Plumber salary in Merced, CA
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Plumbers in the Merced, CA area earn a median of $60,230 a year, or $28.96 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $80,390. Statewide, plumbers earn a median of $72,830; Merced is 17% below it.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $21.88/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 160
- After cost of living
- $61,290
- Median hourly pay
- $28.96/hr
- vs U.S. median
- −6%
- vs California median
- −17%
- Mean (average) pay
- $62,760 a year · $30.17 an hour
Pay by percentile
What plumbers in Merced, CA 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 | $21.88 | $45,510 |
| 25th percentile | $23.28 | $48,430 |
| Median (50th) | $28.96 | $60,230 |
| 75th percentile | $35.20 | $73,220 |
| 90th percentile | $38.65 | $80,390 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Merced, CA compares
- Merced has the lowest plumber median of the 25 California metro areas with published pay.
- Plumbers are less concentrated in the Merced area than nationally: 2.0 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.65 times the U.S. share.
Other California metro areas
Other trades in Merced, CA
Questions
- Do plumbers make more in Merced or San Jose?
- San Jose pays more: the median is $60,230 in Merced and $107,560 in San Jose, a 44% difference.
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 32900 (Merced, CA). 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 (98.3, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures