Statewide pay Government data
Construction laborers in North Carolina earn a statewide median of $44,720 a year, 5% below the typical U.S. metro, ranking #39 of 50 states and DC. About 35,620 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near North Carolina
See all states on the construction laborers nationwide.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes construction laborer pay for 15 North Carolina metros: Asheville, Burlington, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Goldsboro, Greensboro, Greenville, Hickory, Jacksonville, Pinehurst, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Wilmington and Winston.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| AshevilleNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $47,520 | $49,240 | 1,340 |
| DurhamNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $46,560 | $47,719 | 1,120 |
| WilmingtonNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $46,090 | $47,800 | 1,870 |
| PinehurstNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $45,900 | $51,961 | 240 |
| CharlotteNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $45,850 | $47,099 | 10,840 |
| RaleighNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $45,650 | $46,507 | 6,360 |
| HickoryNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $44,550 | $50,347 | 800 |
| FayettevilleNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $43,740 | $47,555 | 600 |
| GreenvilleNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $42,420 | $47,985 | 450 |
| BurlingtonNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $42,320 | $45,410 | 400 |
| WinstonNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $42,210 | $45,859 | 2,000 |
| GreensboroNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $40,100 | $43,181 | 2,190 |
| JacksonvilleNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $39,830 | $43,254 | 390 |
| GoldsboroNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $39,330 | $44,460 | 490 |
| Rocky MountNORTH CAROLINA · NC | $38,100 | $43,290 | 340 |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (metro-level). Real pay: BEA price parities, 2024. How we calculate
Pay outside the cities Government data
BLS also reports pay for North Carolina's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
Perform tasks involving physical labor at construction sites. May operate hand and power tools of all types: air hammers, earth tampers, cement mixers, small mechanical hoists, surveying and measuring equipment, and a variety of other equipment and instruments. May clean and prepare sites, dig trenches, set braces to support the sides of excavations, erect scaffolding, and clean up rubble, debris, and other waste materials. May assist other craft workers.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7.3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 120,000 openings a year. Typical training: short-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, construction laborers have 218 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 2.5× the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is being struck by or caught in objects and equipment.
What the work is like Government data
How often construction laborers 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.
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
North Carolina runs its own workplace-safety program (an OSHA State Plan), so its injury reports aren't in the federal dataset. Nationally, in states federal OSHA covers, structural and exterior contractors filed 4,271 severe injury reports from 2015 to 2024; the most common cause was falls, slips and trips (57%). OSHA also opened 57 fatality investigations at structural and exterior contractors in North Carolina over the same years (federal and state programs).
OSHA Severe Injury Reports, January 2015–December 2024 (states under federal OSHA only).
Fatality investigations: OSHA Fatality Inspection Data, events 2015–2024, all states.
Licensing in North Carolina Official source
The main state licensing office in North Carolina is the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors. Electrical and plumbing/HVAC have their own state boards. It can point you to the right license for construction laborers.
Official North Carolina licensing site ↗
Requirements for construction laborers vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 2.5% of wage and salary workers in North Carolina were union members, below the U.S. rate of about 10% (#50 of 51 states and D.C.), and 3.1% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only construction laborers.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in North Carolina
All trades in North Carolina.