Every figure on PayByTrade comes from a public U.S. government source, or is calculated from one with a formula shown on this page. Each page lists its sources at the bottom.
Try it: how real pay works Our calculation
A relative buying-power comparison, not take-home pay or a household budget.
Data freshness
Each source has its own data period. The site-wide update date is when we last imported data, not the year the numbers describe.
| Data | Data period | Geography | Imported | Next expected |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wages & earnings | May 2025 (history May 2020–2025) | Metro area | October 15, 2026 | May 2026 data, ~spring 2027 |
| Purchasing power | 2024 | Metro area | October 15, 2026 | 2025 data, ~Dec 2026 |
| Housing & rent | FY2027 | County, combined to metro | October 15, 2026 | FY2028, ~Aug–Sept 2027 |
| Local homes | 2024 1-year estimates | Metro area | October 15, 2026 | 2025 estimates, ~Sept 2026 |
| Job outlook & training | 2025–2035 | National | October 15, 2026 | 2026–36, ~Sept 2027 |
| Job duties & work conditions | Release 31.0 | National | October 15, 2026 | Releases several times a year |
| Safety | 2023–2024 | National | October 15, 2026 | 2025–26 tables, ~late 2027 |
| Local job market | 2021–2025 annual averages (2025 preliminary) | Metro area | October 15, 2026 | 2026 averages, ~spring 2027 |
| Businesses & competition | 2024 / 2023 | Metro area | October 15, 2026 | 2025 / 2024 data, ~mid-2027 |
| New construction | 2021–2025 | Metro area | October 15, 2026 | 2026 data, ~spring 2027 |
| Population | July 2020–2025 | Metro area | October 15, 2026 | Vintage 2026, ~Mar 2027 |
| Commute | 2024 1-year estimates | Metro area | October 15, 2026 | 2025 estimates, ~Sept 2026 |
| Inflation | Monthly, through 2026 | National | October 15, 2026 | Monthly |
| Apprenticeship | Exits FY2020–2024; dashboard totals FY2026 | State and national | October 15, 2026 | Refreshed by DOL a few times a year |
| Trade schools | Data updated Oct 2026 | School, matched to nearest metro | October 15, 2026 | Yearly |
| Outdoor work weather | 1991–2020 averages | Weather station, one per metro | October 15, 2026 | Next normals 2031 |
| Union membership | 2025 annual averages | State | October 15, 2026 | 2026 data, ~Jan 2027 |
| Serious injuries | January 2015–December 2024 | State (federal OSHA states) | October 15, 2026 | Updated periodically |
| Fatality investigations | Events 2015–2024 | State | October 15, 2026 | Updated daily (6-month lag) |
| Licensed contractors (California) | Current as of each download | County, combined to metro | October 15, 2026 | Downloaded at each data update |
| Licensed contractors (Florida) | Current as of each download | County, combined to metro | October 15, 2026 | Downloaded at each data update |
| Licensed electricians & plumbers (Colorado) | Current as of each download | ZIP code, matched to county and metro | October 15, 2026 | Downloaded at each data update |
| Licensed contractors (Texas) | Current as of each download | County, combined to metro | October 15, 2026 | Downloaded at each data update |
| Registered contractors (Washington) | Current as of each download | ZIP code, matched to county and metro | October 15, 2026 | Downloaded at each data update |
| Licensing | October 2026 | State | October 15, 2026 | Checked yearly |
Wages & earnings
What we show: Median and percentile yearly pay, hourly median, employment, pay over time.
How: Published BLS figures, shown as reported. Trade and city combinations BLS doesn't publish are left out. Hourly figures in charts marked * are yearly ÷ 2,080.
Purchasing power
What we show: Real pay and real-pay rank; local prices vs. U.S.
How: Real pay = median pay ÷ (price index ÷ 100). The index includes housing, so real pay already reflects local rents.
Housing & rent
What we show: Typical 1- and 2-bedroom rent; share of median pay a 1-bed takes.
How: County rents weighted by 2024 county population for metros with several counties. Rent burden = 1-bed rent × 12 ÷ median pay. It's a separate view from real pay; don't add them together.
Local homes
What we show: Number of homes, share built before 1980 and since 2010, homeownership, median home value.
How: Shown as published. All households, not only tradespeople.
Job outlook & training
What we show: 10-year growth, openings per year, share self-employed, typical education and training.
How: National figures, labeled as such on every page.
Job duties & work conditions
What we show: Job description, top 5 tasks, related trades, how often workers face outdoor work, heights, noise and more, and time to get started.
How: Tasks ranked by O*NET importance scores. Work conditions use O*NET's 1–5 scales, shown as Rarely → Very often.
Safety
What we show: Injuries and illnesses with days away from work per 10,000 full-time workers; most common cause.
How: Uses the detailed occupation where published, otherwise the closest broader group.
Local job market
What we show: Unemployment rate and 5-year chart; Job market grade.
How: All workers in the metro, not only one trade.
Businesses & competition
What we show: One-person businesses and their average revenue; companies with employees, their workers, share with fewer than 5 employees.
How: Reported by industry, not occupation, so related trades can share a figure (e.g. plumbing and HVAC contracting). Trades without a matching industry skip this section.
New construction
What we show: New homes permitted, 5-year chart, permits per 1,000 residents and rank.
How: Permits signal construction activity, not open jobs. Ranked per resident so smaller fast-growing metros aren't buried under big cities.
Population
What we show: Population change since 2020, growth rank, net migration.
How: Shown as published.
Commute
What we show: Average commute, share commuting 45+ minutes, how people get to work.
How: All workers, not only tradespeople.
Inflation
What we show: Pay growth after inflation.
How: May-to-May CPI change, matching the May reference month of the wage survey.
Apprenticeship
What we show: Completion rate, graduates per year, typical program hours, union vs. non-union completion; national active-apprentice totals.
How: Completion rate = completed ÷ (completed + cancelled) among apprentices who left a program in FY2020–2024. Groups with fewer than 30 exits are left out. Some state agencies report only partly to DOL (CT, DE, MD, NY, PA).
Trade schools
What we show: Certificate and associate programs for a trade near each city and in each state: cost, recent graduates, first-year earnings.
How: Programs grouped by 4-digit CIP code, so one family can cover several trades (e.g. welding, machining and sheet metal). Earnings appear only where the school publishes them. Schools within 60 km of a metro are listed under it.
Outdoor work weather
What we show: Days at 90°F+ and 100°F+, freezing nights, rain days, snowfall, summer highs and winter lows.
How: Each metro uses a station named after its main city, preferring the airport; otherwise the nearest low-lying station within 60 km. The station is named on every page.
Union membership
What we show: Share of workers who are union members or covered by a union contract, and state rank.
How: All wage and salary workers in the state, not only the trades. The U.S. rate is computed from the state figures.
Serious injuries
What we show: Severe injury reports (hospitalization, amputation, loss of an eye) by industry and state, amputations, most common cause.
How: Reports are matched to each trade's industry code (e.g. 238160 roofing contractors), so they cover everyone at those employers. States with their own OSHA State Plan aren't in the federal data and are noted as such.
Fatality investigations
What we show: Number of fatality and catastrophe investigations OSHA opened at each trade's industry, by state and nationwide.
How: Matched by the site's NAICS industry code, like the injury reports. Counts only; we never show names or employers.
Licensed contractors (California)
What we show: Active contractor licenses in each trade's classification (e.g. C-10 Electrical) by metro, per 10,000 residents and rank among California metros.
How: Counts licenses with CLEAR status that haven't expired, by classification; a license with several classes counts once in each. Metro = county of the business address, grouped with HUD's county-to-metro list.
Licensed contractors (Florida)
What we show: Active electrical, plumbing, air conditioning/mechanical, roofing, sheet metal and solar contractor licenses by metro, per 10,000 residents and rank among Florida metros.
How: Counts active, unexpired certified and registered licenses, one per license number. Metro = county in the license's address, grouped with HUD's county-to-metro list.
Licensed electricians & plumbers (Colorado)
What we show: Active electrical and plumbing contractor licenses, plus master, journeyman and residential electricians and plumbers, by metro.
How: Active, unexpired licenses with a Colorado mailing address. ZIP codes are matched to counties with the Census 2020 ZCTA-to-county file (largest land share), then to metros. Apprentice registrations are left out.
Licensed contractors (Texas)
What we show: Active electrical, air conditioning and elevator contractor licenses by metro, plus licensed master, journeyman and residential electricians.
How: Unexpired licenses with a Texas county, one per license number, counted by business county where given, otherwise the license holder's county. Apprentices are left out.
Registered contractors (Washington)
What we show: Active electrical, plumbing and elevator contractors plus registered construction contractors by specialty (roofing, painting, flooring, HVAC/R and more), by metro.
How: Active, unexpired registrations with a Washington address, one per license number per trade; a firm with two specialties counts in both. ZIP codes are matched to counties with the Census ZCTA-to-county file, then to metros.
Licensing
What we show: Each state's main licensing office, with notes where trades are licensed separately or locally.
How: Homepage-level links to official agencies. States that license trades locally say so instead of linking a wrong agency.
Rankings, gaps & geography
Geography
Most local figures are for metropolitan areas (a central city plus surrounding counties), named by their first city. HUD rents are published by county; we combine them into metros weighted by population. Some figures are state-level (licensing) or national (job outlook, duties, work conditions, safety, inflation), and every page labels which is which.
Missing data
We never estimate a missing number. If BLS doesn't publish pay for a trade in a city (often because too few people were surveyed), there's no page for it. If a city lacks one figure, such as price levels for Puerto Rico, that section is left out and the page says why.
Ranks and grades
Ranks compare a city with every other metro for the same trade (#1 = highest pay, lowest rent burden, etc.; ties share a rank). Scorecard grades use the same comparison: A = top 20%, B = next 20%, down to F = bottom 20%. Best cities and Which trade fits me? turn each factor into a percentile and take a weighted average using your sliders; the reasons shown are the factors where a result is in the top 30%.
Rate calculator
Minimum rate = (pay × (1 + tax & benefits %) + yearly overhead) ÷ billable hours. Billable hours are hours you can charge a customer, usually far fewer than the 2,080 an employee is paid for. The tax & benefits figure is a planning allowance, not a tax calculation. The defaults are starting assumptions, not data. Open the rate calculator.
Spot an error?
Contact us with the page address and the number in question. We check it against the original source and correct it.