Do plumbers make more in Owensboro or Paducah?

Paducah pays more: the median is $64,310 in Owensboro and $82,120 in Paducah, a 22% difference.

Plumber salary in Owensboro, KY

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Plumbers in the Owensboro, KY area earn a median of $64,310 a year, or $30.92 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The top 10% earn more than $91,170. That's about the same as the Kentucky median of $64,160.

Median yearly pay$64,310

Bottom 10% under$46,040Top 10% over$91,170

Apprentice starting pay (estimate): $22.14/hr
Jobs in this area: 180
After cost of living: $72,580
Median hourly pay: $30.92/hr
vs U.S. median: +1%
vs Kentucky median: 0%
Mean (average) pay: $66,950 a year · $32.19 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 36980, Owensboro, KY). Excludes self-employed plumbers. 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 plumbers in Owensboro, KY 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	$22.14	$46,040
25th percentile	$25.17	$52,350
Median (50th)	$30.92	$64,310
75th percentile	$38.20	$79,460
90th percentile	$43.83	$91,170

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

How Owensboro, KY compares

Owensboro ranks 4th of 9 Kentucky metro areas for plumber pay.
Plumbers are more concentrated in the Owensboro area than nationally: 3.6 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.2 times the U.S. share.

Other Kentucky metro areas

Other trades in Owensboro, KY

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

Questions

Do plumbers make more in Owensboro or Paducah?: Paducah pays more: the median is $64,310 in Owensboro and $82,120 in Paducah, a 22% 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 36980 (Owensboro, KY). 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 (88.6, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures