Master Plumber
We place this role between $75,000 and $115,000 a year at mid experience, before overtime, bonus and on-call.
What this role pays.
That band is mid experience, built from our own engagement history. Experience and region move it - the salary calculator applies both.
The federal occupation this role reports under is Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters (SOC 47-2152), May 2025. Nationally it reports a median of $63,800 , with the middle of the market between $44,150 and $108,420. BLS counts this job inside that occupation rather than publishing it separately, so the figures cover a slightly wider group than this exact title.
Where it pays most.
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters across the metros we cover, May 2025. BLS publishes a median for 112 of them and withholds the rest, where the local sample was too small to be reliable.
| Metro | Median | Employed there |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose | $107,560 | 3,830 |
| Chicago | $103,380 | 12,750 |
| Minneapolis | $101,630 | 6,730 |
| Portland | $101,010 | 4,600 |
| Boston | $96,760 | 9,200 |
| Seattle | $95,230 | 6,350 |
| Detroit | $86,370 | 5,520 |
| Madison | $85,160 | 1,590 |
| McAllen | $46,110 | 360 |
| Myrtle Beach | $48,340 | 460 |
| Little Rock | $49,190 | 890 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. The last three rows are the lowest-paying metros in the same set. Headcount is metro-wide across every industry, not this trade alone.
Master Plumber vs Journeyman Plumber (Commercial).
The licence is the job. A master is the person whose name goes on the permit, which makes this a company problem rather than a crew problem: a shop that loses its master can lose the ability to pull work in that jurisdiction until it replaces them. Licences do not move across state lines without reciprocity or re-examination, so the search is usually regional. The trade skills overlap almost entirely with a journeyman's; the search does not, because the pool is a fraction of the size and most of it is already carrying somebody else's licence.
Journeyman Plumber (Commercial): what it pays and what the search takes
Credentials that move an offer.
- State Master License
- Backflow
Licensing is a state question, not a national one. The Commercial Plumbing hiring page carries the state-by-state position, and every market page names the authority for that state.
What the search actually takes.
We have closed 4 commercial plumbing searches in 2026 year to date, which is below the 8 we require before publishing a median. We would rather print the count than a number the sample cannot carry. The Hiring Index shows what we do and do not have.
Keep reading.
- 2026 Commercial Plumbing Salary Guide - the full benchmark by role.
- Commercial Plumbing recruiting - how we run this trade.
- Salary calculator - the band by experience and region.
- Commercial Plumbing hiring in Houston - one market in detail.
- Hiring Index - how long our searches actually take.
Other Commercial Plumbing roles we recruit
All 56 roles we recruit - every trade, every seat.