Carpenters Average Salary in United States
$65,741 average · $65,630 median · BLS OEWS 2025
SOC Code: 47-2031What is this?
Professional in carpenters
How much do Carpenters make in United States?
The average carpenters salary in United States is $65,741 per year, with a median of $65,630. That works out to about $31.61 per hour on average. BLS counts roughly 3,457,910 carpenters jobs in United States.
Mean and median are close, so pay is relatively concentrated around $65,630. Entry-level roles (10th percentile) report about $63,870; experienced workers at the 90th percentile report about $67,040 — a 5% spread from bottom to top. Figures are employer-reported wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — not self-reported survey averages — so they are the right baseline for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
How Construction and Extraction Careers Are Structured
Construction wages carry a premium over comparable-education work that compensates for two realities: physical demands and cyclicality. The trend data for these occupations shows the boom-bust signature clearly — employment swings with interest rates and building cycles even when wages hold. Plan for the trough years, not just the current figure.
The wage tables and percentile chart on this page show how carpenters pay is distributed in United States specifically — and because state-level wages for the same occupation routinely differ by 30% or more, the local figures here are the ones that matter for offers, raises, and relocation decisions in this market.
What Moves Pay in This Field
Licensure and union status are the structural levers. Licensed trades (electrical, plumbing, elevator) out-earn unlicensed work substantially, and union-dense states show wage gaps of 30-50% over open-shop states for identical work — visible directly in the state comparisons on this site. Within a trade, the journeyman-to-foreman-to-superintendent ladder is the progression that reaches the top percentiles.
The registered apprenticeship is the canonical entry: three to five years of paid training, no tuition debt, and a license at the end. Laborer entry is immediate and can convert into an apprenticeship from inside. The long-game consideration is the body: successful construction careers plan the transition into supervision, inspection, or estimating before wear forces it.
New to reading wage distributions? Our guide to salary percentiles explains how to place yourself on the chart above, and the negotiation playbook shows how to use these numbers in an actual conversation.
What Do Carpenters Do?
Professional in carpenters
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Code: 47-2031
Carpenters pay in United States
In United States, carpenters report a median of $65,630 and an average of $65,741 (about $31.61/hour) across roughly 3,457,910 jobs. The local pay band runs from about $63,870 at the 10th percentile to $67,040 at the 90th.
National figures average across high-cost coastal metros and lower-cost inland markets, so individual state pages on Wage Atlas are usually the better reference for a specific offer.
Income reality check
The median salary for Carpenters in United States of $65,630 falls in the Middle class band of this framework - roughly ~10% of the U.S. population and ~10% of the global population sit in this band.
Illustrative relative standing for education only - this ladder is a simplified framework, not an official Census, BLS, or World Bank statistical series. Salary figures on Wage Atlas come from official BLS OEWS data.
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Occupation Report Card
Top Industries for Carpenters
| $66,646 | $61,261 | $32 | 1,691,550 |
Related Occupations
SOC: 33-3051 • 89% match | $79,063 | $79,340 | $38 | 4,069,710 |
SOC: 21-1020 • 86% match | $68,389 | $67,540 | $33 | 4,624,980 |
SOC: 29-2010 • 86% match | $68,006 | $67,350 | $33 | 4,126,940 |
SOC: 15-1232 • 85% match | $67,048 | $66,990 | $32 | 3,961,410 |
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SOC: 29-2060 • 85% match | $66,669 | $67,050 | $32 | 3,611,700 |
SOC: 47-2030 • 88% match | $65,741 | $65,630 | $32 | 3,457,910 |
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Carpenters in Other States
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Viewing: Carpenters (SOC: 47-2031)
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