Brickmasons in the Minneapolis area earn a median of $97,960 a year, 56% above the typical U.S. metro. That ranks #1 of 150 metros for brickmason pay nationwide.
Within driving distance, the same work pays less in St. Cloud.
It's one of 4 Minnesota metros with published pay for this trade; see brickmasons across Minnesota.
Brickmason pay in Minneapolis at a glance
- Brickmasons in the Minneapolis, MN metro earn a median $97,960 a year ($47.10 an hour), #1 of 150 U.S. metros (BLS, May 2025).
- The middle 80% earn between $71,020 and $101,720.
- After local prices, that median buys what $93,454 would in a typical U.S. place (BEA, 2024).
- A typical 1-bedroom rents for $1,418 a month, 17% of the median pay (HUD, FY2027).
Check your pay here
Enter a rate to see where it falls among brickmasons in Minneapolis.
Comparing two real offers with overtime and commutes? Use the job offer checker. The median here works out to about $47 an hour in yearly terms.
What this means Our calculation
Pay for brickmasons here is in the top 20% of U.S. metros, and also in the top 20% once local prices are factored in. For the wider job market, unemployment is lower than in most metros (3.7%) and the population is growing at a typical pace (+2.6% since 2020). On your own, you'd join about 3,242 one-person foundation, framing & exterior work businesses averaging $99,158 in revenue, and you'd need to bill roughly $109/hour to match the median salary (at our default assumptions).
Minneapolis scorecard for brickmasons Our calculation
Grades compare Minneapolis with every other U.S. metro for this trade (A = top 20%).
Pay Government data
Pay range
Shaded: the middle half of workers.
Pay over time
The median pay for brickmasons in the Minneapolis area went from $74,610 in 2020 to $97,960 in 2025, up 31.3%. Prices rose 25% over the same period, so after inflation that's +4.7% — a real raise.
BLS OEWS, May 2020–May 2025; inflation: CPI-U (May to May). Year-to-year changes can include survey noise.
Compared with nearby metros
What the pay is really worth in Minneapolis Our calculation
Prices in the Minneapolis area run 5% above the U.S. average. Adjusted for that, a median paycheck here buys what $93,454 would in a typical place, ranking #6 of 149 on real pay.
Real pay or rent burden?
Real pay already accounts for housing, because the price index includes rent. Rent burden shows what share of pay a typical 1-bedroom takes. Use either one, not both together.
Want the full picture? Build a monthly budget for Minneapolis from this pay, local rent and prices.
What brickmasons do
Lay and bind building materials, such as brick, structural tile, concrete block, cinder block, glass block, and terra-cotta block, with mortar and other substances, to construct or repair walls, partitions, arches, sewers, and other structures.
Most important day-to-day tasks
- Measure distance from reference points and mark guidelines to lay out work, using plumb bobs and levels.
- Construct corners by fastening in plumb position a corner pole or building a corner pyramid of bricks, and filling in between the corners using a line from corner to corner to steer each course, or layer, of brick.
- Apply and smooth mortar or other mixture over work surface.
- Calculate angles and courses and determine vertical and horizontal alignment of courses.
- Break or cut bricks, tiles, or blocks to size, using trowel edge, hammer, or power saw.
Outlook & getting started
Nationally, brickmason jobs are projected to grow 1.1% from 2025 to 2035 (all jobs: 3.5%), with about 4,100 openings a year. About 18% are self-employed.
What the work is like Government data
How often brickmasons deal with each condition, from surveys of workers in the job.
Getting started usually takes some preparation (high school plus months of training).
O*NET 31.0 Work Context and Job Zones (U.S. Department of Labor), national.
Getting started: registered apprenticeship Government data
Most brickmasons train through a paid apprenticeship: you work and earn under experienced pros while taking classes, and pay usually rises as you progress. 727,586 people were active registered apprentices nationwide in FY2026, up 87% since FY2016, and construction is the largest field with 290,043 of them (40%), according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Search apprenticeship openings near Minneapolis ↗Find training programs & sponsors ↗
Official U.S. Department of Labor tools at Apprenticeship.gov. Counts: DOL Apprentices by State dashboard, FY2026 (all occupations).
Licensing in Minnesota Official source
The main state licensing office in Minnesota is the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. It can point you to the right license for brickmasons.
Official Minnesota licensing site ↗
Requirements for brickmasons vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
On-the-job safety Government data
Nationally, brickmasons have 131 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 1.5× the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is falls, slips and trips.
BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 2023–2024 (national, cases with days away from work).
Highest-paying MN metros for brickmasons
| Metro | Median | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| MinneapolisMINNESOTA · MN | $97,960 | $93,454 | 820 |
| RochesterMINNESOTA · MN | $93,070 | $102,476 | 50 |
| St. CloudMINNESOTA · MN | $85,530 | $97,601 | 30 |
| DuluthMINNESOTA · MN | $80,660 | $90,866 | 60 |
See every metro in Minnesota.
How much work is there? Government data
Local job market
The Minneapolis area's unemployment rate was 3.7% in 2025 (all workers, not just brickmasons), below the typical U.S. metro's 4.1%. It was 3.6% in 2021.
BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics, annual averages 2021–2025 (2025 preliminary).
Getting to work
The average commute in the Minneapolis area is 24 minutes each way, about the same as the typical metro (24 min). 11% of commuters spend 45 minutes or more. 68% drive alone, 2% take transit and 17% work from home (all workers, not just trades).
Census American Community Survey, 2024 1-year estimates (table S0801).
Population
The Minneapolis area's population grew 2.6% from 2020 to 2025 (3,694,131 → 3,790,295), ranking #190 of 387 metros for growth (typical metro +2.5%). People moving in (net +34,827) account for part of the change.
Census Bureau population estimates, July 1 of each year, 2020–2025.
Homes in Minneapolis
The Minneapolis area has about 1,591,390 homes. 48% were built before 1980 (typical metro 45%), so its housing is about as old as most; 14% were built in 2010 or later. 70% of households own their home, and the median home value is $384,300.
Census American Community Survey, 2024 1-year estimates (table DP04).
New construction
New-home permits in Minneapolis are down 44% from 2021 to 2025 (26,077 → 14,516).
In 2025 the Minneapolis area approved permits for 14,516 new homes (8,868 single-family), or 3.9 per 1,000 residents, ranking #169 of 393 metros.
Competition
In 2024 the area had 3,242 one-person businesses (no employees) in foundation, framing & exterior work, averaging $99,158 a year in revenue before expenses. See how Minneapolis compares among the best cities to start a brickmason business.
They compete with 1,633 foundation, framing & exterior work companies that have employees (about 13,291 workers in total). 73% of those companies have fewer than 5 employees.
What new hires earn here
People newly hired into construction jobs in the Minneapolis area earn about $76,100 a year at the start, compared with $98,200 for all construction workers who've stayed with their employer. By age, construction workers 19 to 24 average about $58,900 a year here, and those 45 to 54 about $114,200. That's for every construction job combined, not just brickmasons, but it shows how much experience is worth here.
Census Quarterly Workforce Indicators, construction (NAICS 23), private employers, 2024 Q4–2025 Q3. Monthly earnings × 12.
Pay on public projects
On federally funded building construction in Hennepin County, the law (the Davis-Bacon Act) sets a minimum of $52.91 an hour plus $28.34 an hour in benefits (or as cash), $81.25 in all for brickmasons. That base rate is above the local median wage of $47.10. It comes from a Labor Department wage survey, and survey rates can be several years old.
U.S. Department of Labor wage determination MN20260053, 2026, via SAM.gov. Many states set their own prevailing wages for state and city projects.
Traveling here for work
Out-of-town brickmasons on travel jobs here are often paid per diem. The federal rate is $153 a night for lodging plus $92 a day for meals, the Minneapolis / St. Paul rate: about $1,715 a week on top of wages. Compare a travel job here with a local one.
GSA per diem rates, FY2027 (October 2026–September 2027). Employers set their own per diem; many use the GSA rate as a guide.
Working outdoors in Minneapolis Government data
In an average year, Minneapolis has 12 days at 90°F or hotter (fewer than most metros; typical metro 33), 147 nights below freezing (typical 90) and 62 days with a tenth of an inch of rain or more, and 51 inches of snow. Summer afternoons average 81°F and winter nights 12°F. That matters for brickmasons: heat and freezes shape the working season and the hours.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020 averages, Minneapolis/St Paul Airport, MN station. Compare cities on outdoor work weather.
Employee vs. working for yourself Your scenario
A model, not a market rate. It shows the break-even rate to match a $97,960 employee salary once you cover what an employer normally pays for (including the employer half of Social Security and Medicare, 7.65%), then adds your profit margin. Change any number.
Break-even rate
With your profit margin
How this calculator works. Weighing a contractor job against a W-2 one? Try the 1099 vs. W-2 comparison. Billable hours are hours you can charge a customer. Driving, quoting, paperwork and slow weeks aren't billable, which is why 1,400 is a common starting point versus 2,080 paid hours as an employee.
Get brickmason pricing & estimate templates →Compare Minneapolis with another city →
Keep exploring
Could this trade pay more somewhere else?
ToolBest cities for brickmasonsRank every metro on pay, buying power, rent and jobs.Is a job offer here any good?
ToolCheck an offer in MinneapolisSee where it falls among local brickmasons, after the commute.Could you afford to live here?
ToolMinneapolis budgetMonthly take-home, HUD rent and local prices on this pay.About this data
Local to the Minneapolis metro: pay (BLS, May 2025) and pay over time (2020–2025, CPI-adjusted), prices (BEA, 2024), rent (HUD, FY2027), new construction, housing, population and commuting (Census), unemployment (BLS) and business counts (Census, by industry). National: job outlook and training (BLS projections), injury rates (BLS) and duties (O*NET). Jobs are employment estimates, not open positions; grades rank Minneapolis against every other metro for brickmasons. Every source, year and formula is on our data page.