Commercial Trades Salary Report — Q4 2026

Short answer: Q4 compensation planning should start with the latest verified federal wage data, then be adjusted for role scope and local conditions. May 2025 BLS medians include electricians at $63,190, HVAC mechanics and installers at $61,010, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters at $63,800, and construction managers at $114,990. These are occupational anchors, not recommended offers.

Key takeaways

• Craft medians cluster in the low $60,000s. Electricians, HVAC mechanics and plumbers all land between $61,010 and $63,800 at the national median.
• Leadership pays on a different scale. Construction managers sit at a $114,990 median, well above any craft median in this report.
• The spread matters more than the midpoint. The 10th percentiles for the three crafts sit between $40,050 and $44,150, the 90th percentiles between $95,210 and $108,510.
• A national number isn't an offer. Adjust for scope, market and what the candidate would give up by moving.
• Q4 is the time to re-price. Set 2027 ranges before January hiring starts, not after the first candidate turns you down.

How to read this report

Every number here is a federal figure from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a link to its source. The rest is recruiting analysis: what those numbers mean when you're setting a range for a real commercial role. We don't blend the two, and we don't present a recruiting observation as a national pay survey. Use this report to see where a salary search is likely to be tight and which assumptions to test in your own market before the year-end budget locks.

National wage anchors

All figures are BLS May 2025 national data.

• Electricians: $63,190 median annual wage (BLS).
• HVAC mechanics and installers: $61,010 median (BLS).
• Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters: $63,800 median (BLS).
• Construction managers: $114,990 median, and $126,690 in nonresidential building construction (BLS).
• Roofers: $58,140 annual mean wage and $26.65 median hourly wage (BLS).
• First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers: $86,450 annual mean wage (BLS).

Note the mix of measures. The roofer and supervisor figures are means (averages), while the other four are medians. Compare like with like when you build a range. For role-level detail, see our guides to commercial electrician pay across 20 markets, commercial HVAC service manager salary, commercial plumbing project manager salary and commercial roofing estimator salary.

Why leadership roles separate from craft medians

The market pays for the ability to organize other people's work, protect a schedule, communicate with customers and own financial outcomes. That's why construction managers sit at a $114,990 median while the craft occupations in this report sit in the low $60,000s. First-line supervisors of the construction trades average $86,450, between the two.

If you're promoting a strong craft worker into management, re-benchmark the role from scratch. Adding a small percentage to their old wage prices a management job like a field job, and the market will notice.

Why the 10th–90th percentile spread matters

National medians hide a wide range:

• Electricians: below $42,640 at the 10th percentile, above $108,510 at the 90th.
• HVAC mechanics and installers: below $40,050 to above $95,210.
• Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters: below $44,150 to above $108,420.
• Construction managers: above $189,440 at the 90th percentile.

In each craft, the top of the range pays more than double the bottom. A commercial journeyman with a specialty and a clean record isn't competing at the median, so a salary post that gives one number for the whole trade isn't much use. Use the salary calculator to narrow the range for your role.

Demand adds pressure on top. BLS projects about 72,700 openings a year for electricians and about 42,000 a year for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters over 2025–35. We recruit across commercial electrical, HVAC and mechanical and commercial plumbing, and the pattern is the same in each: the spread is where the search is won or lost.

Q4 compensation checklist

• Re-price hard-to-fill roles before year-end planning. Last year's band may already be behind.
• Audit the whole package. Review vehicle, fuel, on-call and overtime policies alongside base pay.
• Separate manager and PM ranges from field ranges. Don't let a management seat inherit a craft pay band.
• Test your published ranges. Use local candidate feedback to check whether they're still current.
• Prepare 2027 offers now. Have approved ranges ready before January hiring starts.

Why we see salary data differently

My Trade Talent has made 597+ direct-hire placements since 2022, across 240 distinct position titles in 20 commercial trades. That's a lot of offers negotiated against a candidate's current package, and it's why we treat a BLS median as the start of the conversation rather than the answer. We work on a flat monthly model, not a percentage-of-salary fee.

Bottom line

Use these federal figures as anchors, then validate the actual role and metro. The offer has to compete with the candidate's current total package and switching risk, not with a national median on a spreadsheet. If a Q4 or January search depends on getting the number right, schedule a discovery call and we'll pressure-test the range with you.

About the author

Michael Carter is President of My Trade Talent. He has been building outbound hiring programs since 2014, and commercial-trades talent pipelines since 2021. His work focuses on helping commercial-trades employers build repeatable direct-hire pipelines for hard-to-reach talent.