TradeSalary

Plumber salary in Rochester, NY

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Plumbers in the Rochester, NY area earn a median of $73,580 a year, or $35.38 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $100,140 a year. Statewide, plumbers earn a median of $77,490; Rochester is 5% below it.

Median yearly pay$73,580
Bottom 10% under$43,570Top 10% over$100,140
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$20.95/hr
Jobs in this area
1,460
After cost of living
$75,830
Median hourly pay
$35.38/hr
vs U.S. median
+15%
vs New York median
−5%
Mean (average) pay
$73,550 a year · $35.36 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 40380, Rochester, NY). 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 Rochester, NY 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$20.95$43,570
25th percentile$26.75$55,630
Median (50th)$35.38$73,580
75th percentile$43.18$89,820
90th percentile$48.14$100,140

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

How Rochester, NY compares

  • Rochester ranks 5th of 13 New York metro areas for plumber pay.
  • Plumbers hold about the same share of jobs in the Rochester area as nationally: 3.0 of every 1,000 jobs.

Other New York metro areas

Other trades in Rochester, NY

Questions

Do plumbers make more in Rochester or New York?
New York pays more: the median is $73,580 in Rochester and $78,610 in New York, a 6% 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 40380 (Rochester, NY). 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 (97.0, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures