Home Improvement Labor Costs by State (2026): BLS Wage Index for Roofers, HVAC, Painters, Carpenters and More

Name: Home improvement labor cost index by U.S. state (2026)
Creator: Pricestead
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Roofer wages in Illinois are 1.71x those in Mississippi. Below: the wage index of 6 building and home-service trades in all 50 states and DC, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Read this first: the index compares the wage of the trade in each state with the U.S. average (1.000 = national average). It is not the price of a job: materials, permits, overhead and contractor margin do not follow the same map. In our estimators the index only adjusts the labor share of a project.

Key findings

Brickmasons and blockmasons: wages in Massachusetts (1.463) are 2.10x those in New Mexico (0.695).
Carpenters: wages in Hawaii (1.333) are 1.78x those in Mississippi (0.751).
Roofers: wages in Illinois (1.336) are 1.71x those in Mississippi (0.779).
Painters: wages in Hawaii (1.287) are 1.70x those in South Carolina (0.759).
HVAC technicians: wages in District of Columbia (1.311) are 1.66x those in Arkansas (0.790).
Pest control workers: wages in Nevada (1.166) are 1.39x those in West Virginia (0.839).
8 of the 49 jurisdictions with data for all six trades sit above the national average in every one: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington.
21 sit below it in all six.
BLS publishes no annual mean wage for pest control workers in District of Columbia, so it is left blank for that jurisdiction.
BLS publishes no annual mean wage for brickmasons and blockmasons in Alaska, so it is left blank for that jurisdiction.
Massachusetts ranks in the top 5 for 5 of the 6 trades.

Map: Roofers wage index by U.S. state. Highest: Illinois (1.34); lowest: Mississippi (0.78). — Each square is a state; green is above the U.S. average for that trade, orange below. Download this map (PNG) · free to reuse with credit (CC BY 4.0).

Roofers (SOC 47-2181)

Highest 5

Illinois1.336
New Jersey1.279
Massachusetts1.255
Minnesota1.254
New York1.193

Lowest 5

Mississippi0.779
Arkansas0.787
Tennessee0.804
South Dakota0.808
Texas0.812

Spread: Illinois vs Mississippi = 1.71x. 18 of 51 with data are above the national average.

HVAC technicians (SOC 49-9021)

Highest 5

District of Columbia1.311
Alaska1.237
Washington1.217
Massachusetts1.200
New Jersey1.198

Lowest 5

Arkansas0.790
Alabama0.792
West Virginia0.798
Mississippi0.818
New Mexico0.854

Spread: District of Columbia vs Arkansas = 1.66x. 24 of 51 with data are above the national average.

Painters (SOC 47-2141)

Highest 5

Hawaii1.287
Illinois1.256
New York1.228
Alaska1.159
Massachusetts1.156

Lowest 5

South Carolina0.759
Arkansas0.761
Tennessee0.805
Alabama0.807
West Virginia0.808

Spread: Hawaii vs South Carolina = 1.70x. 19 of 51 with data are above the national average.

Carpenters (SOC 47-2031)

Highest 5

Hawaii1.333
Alaska1.226
Illinois1.224
Massachusetts1.214
Washington1.206

Lowest 5

Mississippi0.751
Alabama0.754
Oklahoma0.756
Georgia0.766
North Carolina0.770

Spread: Hawaii vs Mississippi = 1.78x. 15 of 51 with data are above the national average.

Pest control workers (SOC 37-2021)

Highest 5

Nevada1.166
Colorado1.159
New York1.153
South Dakota1.153
Washington1.147

Lowest 5

West Virginia0.839
New Mexico0.884
Mississippi0.884
Alabama0.888
Arkansas0.890

Spread: Nevada vs West Virginia = 1.39x. 23 of 50 with data are above the national average.

Brickmasons and blockmasons (SOC 47-2021)

Highest 5

Massachusetts1.463
Minnesota1.338
New York1.332
Washington1.251
Illinois1.242

Lowest 5

New Mexico0.695
Mississippi0.708
West Virginia0.727
North Carolina0.741
Alabama0.742

Spread: Massachusetts vs New Mexico = 2.10x. 18 of 50 with data are above the national average.

Wage index by state and trade

1.000 = U.S. average for that occupation. Click a column heading to sort. Green = one of the 5 highest, orange = one of the 5 lowest for that trade.

Filter statesDownload CSV ↓

Wage index by state for 6 trades, BLS OEWS, U.S. average = 1.000

Alabama	0.823	0.792	0.807	0.754	0.888	0.742
Alaska	1.177	1.237	1.159	1.226	1.135	—
Arizona	0.870	0.940	0.947	0.899	1.027	0.891
Arkansas	0.787	0.790	0.761	0.782	0.890	0.772
California	1.160	1.163	1.127	1.201	1.085	1.071
Colorado	0.966	1.101	1.017	1.009	1.159	0.935
Connecticut	1.178	1.136	1.146	1.046	1.072	1.048
Delaware	0.951	1.021	1.027	0.955	1.037	1.024
District of Columbia	1.182	1.311	1.123	1.005	—	1.104
Florida	0.841	0.885	0.874	0.801	0.993	0.805
Georgia	0.833	0.881	0.912	0.766	0.927	0.794
Hawaii	1.057	1.035	1.287	1.333	1.097	1.124
Idaho	0.934	0.926	0.821	0.854	0.906	0.941
Illinois	1.336	1.197	1.256	1.224	1.024	1.242
Indiana	1.029	1.005	0.956	0.990	0.965	1.002
Iowa	0.896	0.974	0.940	0.878	0.953	0.965
Kansas	0.918	0.949	0.820	0.906	0.902	0.905
Kentucky	0.872	0.909	0.928	0.835	0.938	0.851
Louisiana	0.908	0.878	0.831	0.786	0.932	0.805
Maine	0.924	1.008	1.087	0.964	1.095	0.747
Maryland	1.060	1.140	1.004	1.052	1.090	0.829
Massachusetts	1.255	1.200	1.156	1.214	1.057	1.463
Michigan	1.057	0.996	1.009	0.947	1.013	0.994
Minnesota	1.254	1.142	1.050	1.071	0.984	1.338
Mississippi	0.779	0.818	0.838	0.751	0.884	0.708
Missouri	0.969	0.963	1.073	0.990	0.922	0.996
Montana	0.981	0.961	0.987	0.909	0.968	0.814
Nebraska	0.824	0.942	0.841	0.837	0.973	0.872
Nevada	0.988	0.978	1.076	1.055	1.166	0.872
New Hampshire	1.098	1.104	0.951	0.977	1.095	0.970
New Jersey	1.279	1.198	1.101	1.097	1.116	1.222
New Mexico	0.825	0.854	0.891	0.875	0.884	0.695
New York	1.193	1.154	1.228	1.158	1.153	1.332
North Carolina	0.861	0.886	0.810	0.770	0.981	0.741
North Dakota	1.041	1.081	1.010	0.883	1.135	1.050
Ohio	0.958	1.019	0.984	0.954	0.952	1.016
Oklahoma	0.845	0.890	0.820	0.756	0.921	0.793
Oregon	1.058	1.056	0.967	1.080	1.060	1.203
Pennsylvania	0.971	1.002	0.979	0.963	0.991	1.085
Rhode Island	1.094	1.077	0.869	0.980	1.065	1.200
South Carolina	0.863	0.872	0.759	0.843	0.965	0.779
South Dakota	0.808	0.943	0.861	0.782	1.153	0.894
Tennessee	0.804	0.892	0.805	0.823	0.924	0.927
Texas	0.812	0.913	0.830	0.777	0.892	0.793
Utah	0.887	0.926	0.861	0.844	0.922	0.875
Vermont	0.969	1.035	0.990	0.945	1.051	0.904
Virginia	0.886	0.945	0.886	0.844	1.031	0.802
Washington	1.185	1.217	1.099	1.206	1.147	1.251
West Virginia	0.879	0.798	0.808	0.770	0.839	0.727
Wisconsin	0.999	1.041	0.977	0.995	0.995	1.144
Wyoming	0.854	0.861	0.859	0.904	0.982	0.931

51 jurisdictions (50 states + District of Columbia). Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, annual mean wage, retrieved 2026-09-29.

Methodology and limits

Source. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, annual mean wage (https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/), retrieved 2026-09-29. For each occupation we take the state annual mean wage and divide it by the U.S. annual mean wage for the same occupation.

Occupations (SOC codes).

Roofers: SOC 47-2181, "Roofers".
HVAC technicians: SOC 49-9021, "Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers".
Painters: SOC 47-2141, "Painters, Construction and Maintenance".
Carpenters: SOC 47-2031, "Carpenters".
Pest control workers: SOC 37-2021, "Pest Control Workers".
Brickmasons and blockmasons: SOC 47-2021, "Brickmasons and Blockmasons".

What the index means. 1.000 is the U.S. average for that trade; 1.250 means the trade's wage in that state is 25% above the national average. Indexes are compared within a trade: a state can be high for roofers and average for painters.

Limitations. It is a wage, not a price. The final price of a project also depends on materials, permits, overhead, contractor margin, job size and local demand, and none of these follow the wage map. OEWS wages are employer-reported estimates; small states or occupations with few workers can be noisy. Metro areas inside a state can differ a lot from the state figure.

How the index enters our estimators: Methodology, regional labor adjustment. Only the labor share of a project scales with the index; materials do not. Estimators that use each index:

Roof Repair Estimate Calculator(roofers, SOC 47-2181)
HVAC Installation Cost Estimator(hvac technicians, SOC 49-9021)
Interior and Exterior Paint Cost Estimator(painters, SOC 47-2141)
Finished Basement Cost Estimator(carpenters, SOC 47-2031)
Window Installation Cost Estimator(carpenters, SOC 47-2031)

How to cite and reuse

Suggested citation:

Pricestead. "Home Improvement Labor Costs by State: BLS Wage Index for Roofers, HVAC Technicians, Painters, Carpenters, Pest Control Workers and Masons." Pricestead, data retrieved 2026-09-29, https://pricestead.com/labor-costs-by-state. Source data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, annual mean wage.

The state-by-state table, the rankings and the maps on this page are free to reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0): you may quote, chart and republish them, including commercially, as long as you credit Pricestead and link to https://pricestead.com/labor-costs-by-state. The underlying data are public U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. If you spot an error or want a figure for a specific metro area, write to us via contact.

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