Skilled Trades Wages in New York: What Employers Are Paying

The offer you're about to make is probably priced for a different market

You've got a journeyman plumber interview on Thursday. You pulled up the number you paid the last person who filled that seat and added a couple of dollars — and now you're going in with a figure that feels reasonable. The problem? New York isn't a "reasonable" market. It's one of the highest-cost, highest-demand construction labor markets in the country, and the statewide average masks an enormous range: a pipefitter in Buffalo operates in a fundamentally different cost environment than one working a Manhattan mechanical room.

This article gives specialty trade contractors across New York — from electrical contractors on Long Island to HVAC shops in Albany and ironworking firms in the Hudson Valley — a BLS-grounded look at where skilled trades wages land by trade and percentile. It won't replace a metro-specific pull from BLS OEWS, but it will show you the national picture by trade and tell you exactly where to get the New York number that makes your offer defensible.

Here's what you'll walk away with: the national wage benchmarks by trade (released May 2024 by the BLS), a plain-English explanation of how to read percentile data when you're making an offer, and a worked example of converting those numbers into a salary band you can actually use.

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Why New York trade wages need their own lens

New York is not one labor market. It's at least four: New York City and the downstate suburbs, Long Island, the mid-Hudson corridor, and the broad upstate region (Buffalo–Niagara Falls, Rochester, Albany–Schenectady–Troy, and smaller metros). Each has a meaningfully different cost of living, union density, and supply of licensed trade workers — which means the rate that wins a hire downstate can look absurd in Binghamton, and the rate that lands a journeyman in Rochester can be a lowball offer in Queens.

The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (OEWS) — the same data source behind every trade wage benchmark on SkilledMarkets — publishes separate wage tables for the state of New York as a whole and for individual metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). An MSA, or Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the BLS's way of grouping a city and its economically connected surrounding counties into one labor market — so the "New York-Newark-Jersey City" MSA includes the five boroughs, Westchester, and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. For your offer decisions, the MSA figure is always more useful than the statewide one, and the statewide one is always more useful than the national figure.

For the specific state and metro wage tables — what electricians actually earn at the 25th, median, and 75th percentile across the state of New York and in the NYC, Buffalo, Albany, and Rochester MSAs — go directly to bls.gov/oes, select "State and Area" data, and filter by SOC code and geography. We cover the method of reading those numbers below. If you want a deeper orientation to how MSA wage data works and why it matters for offer-making, see our guide on what an MSA is and how to use it for wage data.

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What BLS OEWS national data tells us — and where New York fits

The national figures below come from the BLS OEWS May 2024 release — the most recently confirmed data in our library. Every figure is a national estimate. New York state wages for most trades run above the national median; the NYC metro area runs higher still; upstate metros vary by trade and union penetration. Use these numbers to orient yourself, then pull the state and metro rows from bls.gov/oes before you write your offer.

Reading the percentiles. A BLS percentile tells you what share of workers in that occupation earned less than that dollar amount. The 25th percentile means three out of four workers in that trade earned more. The 75th percentile means three out of four earned less — it's where competitive offers land when you need to win a hire in a tight market. The 10th and 90th percentiles anchor the full range from entry-level to top-of-market. More on how to convert these into a salary band below.

Electricians (SOC 47-2111)

National median: $62,350/yr (BLS OEWS, May 2024). The 10th percentile sits at $39,430 and the 90th at $106,030 — a range that reflects how sharply pay diverges between a first-year apprentice and a master electrician running a large commercial project. With 818,700 jobs nationwide and projected growth of 9% through 2034 (roughly three times the economy-wide average), electrician supply is not keeping up with demand anywhere in the country. New York's density of large commercial and infrastructure projects — and its high union penetration in the electrical trades — pushes state and metro medians noticeably above the national figure. For the New York state and NYC-MSA rows, see bls.gov/oes. For a full profile of this trade, including the O*NET skills breakdown and how to build a band for it, see our electrician salary guide.

Plumbers, Pipefitters & Steamfitters (SOC 47-2152)

National median: $62,970/yr ($30.27/hr) (BLS OEWS, May 2024). The BLS publishes one wage series for this group — the SOC code 47-2152 covers plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters together, so a single median applies across all three titles. With 504,500 jobs nationally and about 44,000 annual openings, this is a deep but competitive pool. New York construction activity — particularly mechanical and infrastructure work — sustains strong demand for this trade across all regions. State and NYC-MSA figures: bls.gov/oes.

HVAC Mechanics & Installers (SOC 49-9021)

National median: $59,810/yr (BLS OEWS, May 2024). Range: $39,130 (10th pct) to $91,020 (90th pct). Projected growth is 8% through 2034 — also well above average — driven by energy efficiency retrofits, new construction, and HVAC system complexity. In New York, climate-control work in dense urban residential and commercial stock creates consistent demand. The spread between the 10th and 90th percentile ($51,890) reflects how wide the experience and specialization gap is in this trade: a technician who can handle commercial chiller systems commands far more than one doing residential installs only. State and metro figures: bls.gov/oes.

Welders, Cutters, Solderers & Brazers (SOC 51-4121)

National median: $51,000/yr (BLS OEWS, May 2024). Range: $38,130 (10th pct) to $75,850 (90th pct). Projected growth of 2% through 2034 is slower than the other trades listed here — but demand is steady, and specialty welding in fabrication, infrastructure repair, and industrial maintenance remains a skill in short supply in many markets. For New York employers doing industrial maintenance or infrastructure work, the relevant wage will vary by setting and certification level; pull the state or metro row from bls.gov/oes to get the applicable figure.

Structural Iron & Steel Workers (SOC 47-2221)

National median: $62,700/yr (BLS OEWS, May 2024). Range: $42,000 (10th pct) to $107,520 (90th pct). With projected growth of 4% through 2034 and about 7,000 annual openings nationally, ironworking is a smaller but highly compensated trade — and New York City, with its ongoing high-rise and infrastructure pipeline, is one of the deepest markets for it in the country. The 90th percentile figure ($107,520) reflects the premium on experienced ironworkers who can run complex structural steel operations at height. For a full trade profile, see our ironworker salary guide. State and NYC-MSA figures: bls.gov/oes.

Sheet Metal Workers (SOC 47-2211)

National median: $60,850/yr ($29.26/hr) (BLS OEWS, May 2024). About 127,000 jobs nationally with projected 2% growth through 2034. Sheet metal work spans ductwork, cladding, roofing systems, and precision fabrication — and the pay range reflects that variation in skill and application. In New York, the commercial HVAC and construction markets sustain solid demand for this trade, particularly downstate.

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How to turn a BLS percentile into a salary band you can use

Looking at a BLS median is useful. Turning it into a structured offer is better. Here's a worked example using the national electrician median — not a New York figure, since the exact state number requires a live pull from bls.gov/oes, and we want the method to be clear before you apply it to your actual market data.

The inputs (worked example only — anchor yours to the New York state or MSA figure):

• BLS OEWS May 2024 national electrician median (SOC 47-2111): $62,350/yr
• Spread buffer: ±15% (a common range for mid-sized trade firms; adjust for your market and the role's experience band)

The band:

Band point	Calculation	Result
Minimum	$62,350 × 0.85	≈ $53,000/yr
Midpoint	$62,350 (the anchor)	$62,350/yr
Maximum	$62,350 × 1.15	≈ $71,700/yr

A new journeyman hire typically starts at or just above the minimum. A candidate you're competing for — one who countered your first offer and has another interview this week — belongs at or above the midpoint. The maximum is what you have room to offer your most experienced people or the candidate you genuinely cannot afford to lose.

When you run this same method against the New York state median (or the NYC MSA median, which will be higher), your band will shift upward — and that's the point. The methodology is transferable; the anchor needs to be local. For a deeper walkthrough of how to build, document, and defend a trade salary band, see our skilled trades wage benchmarking guide.

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New york skilled trades wages and the broader demand picture

The labor pressure driving new york skilled trades wages isn't going away. Nationally, the construction industry needed an estimated 439,000 net new workers in 2025 and is projected to need another 349,000 in 2026 — against a backdrop where roughly 1 in 5 construction workers is already over age 55 (Associated Builders and Contractors). That retirement wave hits New York particularly hard in the skilled trades, where unionized journeymen who entered the trade in the 1990s are now approaching retirement age in significant numbers.

The Employment Cost Index (ECI) confirms what your last three hires probably told you: private-industry wages and salaries were up 3.4% year-over-year as of March 2026 (BLS). Union wages tracked higher — up 4.3% year-over-year as of December 2025 (BLS ECI) — which matters in a state with one of the highest union penetration rates in the country's construction sector. If your non-union shop is competing for the same candidates, that union-wage figure is part of what you're competing against.

This context doesn't mean you need to overpay. It means your offer needs to be grounded in what the market actually reflects — not what you paid three years ago. Browse the full trade-by-trade and state-by-state library in our trade wage data hub, or compare New York against another major union-heavy market in our Illinois skilled trades wages guide.

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What to do before your next offer

1. Pull the New York state or MSA row for your trade at bls.gov/oes — filter by SOC code and select "New York" or your specific MSA. If a metro cell is suppressed (the BLS omits estimates based on small samples, including occupations with fewer than 10 estimated employees in an area), fall back to the state figure.
2. Identify your experience anchor. Are you hiring an apprentice, a journeyman, or a lead? Match the candidate's experience band to the appropriate percentile — not just the median.
3. Apply a spread buffer (±10%–20% depending on your market and role) to build a min/midpoint/max band.
4. Document the method. A defensible offer is one you can explain — to the candidate, to your team, and to yourself when the same role opens again in 18 months.

If you'd like to run this process in minutes instead of hours — with BLS OEWS and O*NET data for every trade SOC code joined in one place, a salary-band generator that does the arithmetic, and output you can share — start a free 14-day trial of SkilledMarkets and see what your market's percentiles look like before Thursday's interview.

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This article includes information from O*NET OnLine, developed by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. O*NET is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.