TradeSalary

Plumber salary in Charlottesville, VA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Plumbers in the Charlottesville, VA area earn a median of $56,510 a year, or $27.17 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $74,620. Statewide, plumbers earn a median of $60,470; Charlottesville is 7% below it.

Median yearly pay$56,510
Bottom 10% under$42,210Top 10% over$74,620
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$20.30/hr
Jobs in this area
240
After cost of living
$57,000
Median hourly pay
$27.17/hr
vs U.S. median
−11%
vs Virginia median
−7%
Mean (average) pay
$57,830 a year · $27.80 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 16820, Charlottesville, VA). 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 Charlottesville, VA 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$20.30$42,210
25th percentile$23.39$48,640
Median (50th)$27.17$56,510
75th percentile$32.93$68,500
90th percentile$35.87$74,620

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

How Charlottesville, VA compares

  • Charlottesville ranks 7th of 11 Virginia metro areas for plumber pay.
  • Plumbers are less concentrated in the Charlottesville area than nationally: 2.1 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.70 times the U.S. share.

Other Virginia metro areas

Other trades in Charlottesville, VA

Questions

Do plumbers make more in Charlottesville or Washington?
Washington pays more: the median is $56,510 in Charlottesville and $71,860 in Washington, a 21% 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 16820 (Charlottesville, VA). 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 (99.1, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures