What Is the Davis-Bacon Act? Prevailing Wage Explained
Updated October 7, 2026
The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 requires contractors and subcontractors on federal construction contracts over $2,000 to pay the laborers and mechanics working on the site at least the wage rates and fringe benefits the U.S. Department of Labor has found to prevail for the same kind of work in that area. About 70 other federal laws, the Related Acts, attach the same requirement to construction the federal government assists through grants, loans, loan guarantees and insurance: highways, transit, housing, water and sewer systems, schools and more. Together they are known as DBRA.
What a wage determination is
A wage determination is the Department of Labor's list of the minimum hourly rate and fringe benefit amount for each classification of worker on a particular kind of construction in a particular set of counties. The Wage and Hour Division publishes general wage determinations on SAM.gov, one per state, construction type and group of counties, and numbers them by state and year: CT20260001 is Connecticut's first determination of 2026. Each one is revised during the year as modifications, usually published on Fridays, and replaced by a new edition in January.
The pages in this section are built from those published determinations. Every rate shown names the determination it comes from, its modification number and the date it was published, with a link to the official copy on SAM.gov.
Who is covered
Laborers and mechanics: workers whose duties are manual or physical, including apprentices, trainees and helpers employed on the site of the work by the contractor or any subcontractor. Workers whose duties are primarily administrative, executive or clerical are not laborers or mechanics, and bona fide executive, administrative and professional employees are exempt. Apprentices registered in an approved program may be paid the percentage of the journey-level rate their program sets.
On June 24, 2026 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated, nationwide, three provisions of the Department's 2023 rule: the ones that extended coverage to certain material suppliers, to delivery truck drivers who spent time on the site, and that applied the labor standards retroactively to contracts missing the required clauses. The Department did not contest the order. Coverage questions for a specific contract belong with the contracting agency.
Where the rates come from
The Wage and Hour Division surveys contractors, unions and others about the wages paid on construction projects in an area, separately for each construction type. A rate prevails when it is paid to a majority of the workers in a classification. When no single rate reaches a majority, the 2023 rule restored the standard used before 1983: a rate paid to at least 30 percent of those workers prevails; failing that, a weighted average does. The 30 percent threshold is the subject of a challenge by Associated Builders and Contractors that was still pending in October 2026.
Where the rate paid under a collective bargaining agreement prevails, the determination lists it under the agreement's identifier (ELEC0035-001 is an electrical workers' local) and updates it as the agreement changes. Rates that came from a survey carry an identifier starting with SU and the survey's date, which can be many years old. The pages here label each row union or survey so you can tell which you're looking at.
What a contractor has to do
The contracting agency finds the determination for the county and the construction type and puts it in the bid documents and the contract. The contractor pays every covered worker at least the basic hourly rate plus the fringe benefit amount for the classification of work actually performed, either as benefits, as cash on the paycheck, or a mix. Wages are paid at least weekly. Each week the contractor submits a certified payroll (form WH-347) to the agency and posts the determination and the Davis-Bacon poster at the site.
If a contractor underpays, the agency can withhold contract payments to cover the back wages, and the Department can recover them. Willful or aggravated violations can lead to debarment from federal contracts for up to three years.
Federal work only
Davis-Bacon applies to federal and federally assisted construction. Roughly half the states have their own prevailing wage laws for state-funded work, with their own rates, thresholds and schedules; New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington and Minnesota are among them. Those rates are not on this site. The Department of Labor keeps a list of state prevailing wage laws with links to each state agency.
The determination attached to your contract governs, not the current one on SAM.gov or here. Nothing on these pages is legal advice; for a coverage or classification question, ask the contracting agency or a labor attorney.
Sources
- Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. 3141–3148
- 29 CFR Part 1, Procedures for predetermination of wage rates
- 29 CFR Part 5, Labor standards provisions
- DOL Wage and Hour Division, Davis-Bacon and Related Acts
- DOL, State prevailing wage laws
- SAM.gov wage determinations
Written from the primary sources above. Not legal advice; the determination attached to your contract and the contracting agency govern.