Statewide pay Government data
Drywall installers in New York earn a statewide median of $61,280 a year, 14% above the typical U.S. metro, ranking #14 of 49 states. About 2,840 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near New York
See all states on the drywall installer overview.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes drywall installer pay for 4 New York metros. The highest-paying is New York at $71,320, followed by Rochester and Albany.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| New YorkNEW YORK · NY | $71,320 | $63,360 | 2,560 |
| RochesterNEW YORK · NY | $59,910 | $61,741 | 200 |
| AlbanyNEW YORK · NY | $58,020 | $58,273 | 160 |
| SyracuseNEW YORK · NY | $54,100 | $56,506 | 160 |
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 New York's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
Apply plasterboard or other wallboard to ceilings or interior walls of buildings. Apply or mount acoustical tiles or blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing materials to ceilings and walls of buildings to reduce or reflect sound. Materials may be of decorative quality. Includes lathers who fasten wooden, metal, or rockboard lath to walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings to provide support base for plaster, fireproofing, or acoustical material.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2.5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,600 openings a year. Typical training: moderate-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, drywall installers have 187 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 2.2× 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 drywall installers 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
From 2015 to 2024, drywall and insulation contractors in New York filed 25 severe injury reports (a hospital stay, amputation or loss of an eye), 2 of them involving an amputation. The most common cause was falls, slips and trips (60% of reports). These cover everyone at those employers, not only drywall installers.
OSHA Severe Injury Reports, January 2015–December 2024 (states under federal OSHA only).
Licensing in New York Official source
New York licenses most trades at the city or county level (e.g. New York City). Check with the building or licensing office where you plan to work.
Requirements for drywall installers vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 21.3% of wage and salary workers in New York were union members, above the U.S. rate of about 10% (#2 of 51 states and D.C.), and 22.5% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only drywall installers.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in New York
All trades in New York.