A sheet metal worker in Washington earns a median $47.38 an hour. In Arkansas, the same occupation pays $22.03. Both cut duct to the same gauge tables, both pull the same drive cleats, both breathe the same zinc fume off galvanized, and a 115% pay gap separates their paychecks. The national median for SOC 47-2211, Sheet Metal Workers, is $29.71/hr ($61,800/year), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey for May 2025, the most recent release. That one number hides more variation than almost any trade in construction, because it averages two different jobs sharing one occupation code.
Every wage figure in this article comes from BLS OEWS, May 2025 estimates (bls.gov/oes, SOC 47-2211), pulled on October 18, 2026. Where BLS did not publish a value, we say so rather than fill the gap.
The National Picture: $29.71/hr Across Two Different Jobs
BLS OEWS counts 119,770 wage-and-salary sheet metal workers as of May 2025. The Occupational Outlook Handbook, which also counts self-employed workers, puts total jobs at about 131,100 in 2025. The May 2025 wage distribution for SOC 47-2211:
- Median: $29.71/hr ($61,800/year)
- Mean: $32.62/hr ($67,850/year)
- 10th percentile: $18.57/hr ($38,630) — shop helpers and entry-level residential duct installers
- 25th percentile: $22.99/hr ($47,830)
- 75th percentile: $39.24/hr ($81,610)
- 90th percentile: $50.79/hr ($105,650) — the top tier of commercial and industrial field work
The mean sits nearly $3 above the median, which tells you the top of the distribution is stretched: a minority of high-scale workers pull the average up while most of the trade earns closer to the middle.
That puts sheet metal just above carpenters (May 2025 OEWS median $29.12/hr) and just below brickmasons and blockmasons at $29.87/hr (see our mason wage breakdown) and electricians at $30.38/hr. Anyone assuming the mechanical trades track together will find that the four sit within about $1.30 of each other at the median.
Shop Fabricators and Field Installers Are Not Paid the Same
SOC 47-2211 covers both the fabricator at a plasma table in a climate-controlled shop and the installer hanging spiral trunk off a lift. BLS also notes that construction sheet metal workers typically learn through apprenticeships, while manufacturing sheet metal workers more often learn on the job or at a technical school. Those are different labor markets folded into one code, which is part of why the 10th-to-90th percentile range runs from $18.57 to $50.79.
Union agreements often carry a separate, lower shop or fabrication classification, and non-union shops frequently treat fabrication as production work. BLS does not publish a shop-versus-field split, so there is no reliable public figure for the gap. The practical advice holds anyway: if you take a shop position, negotiate the shop rate as its own number rather than accepting it as a stated percentage of field scale.
Field work splits again by specialty. Testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB) technicians certified through NEBB or TABB, and architectural sheet metal mechanics, tend to sit above general installers. We have no published wage source for those premiums, so ask your local or your employer for the rate sheet before you invest the training time.
Full 50-State Sheet Metal Worker Wage Table (May 2025)
Every state plus the District of Columbia, SOC 47-2211, from BLS OEWS May 2025. Median annual is the BLS-published annual figure, not a 2,080-hour multiplication. Employment is wage-and-salary jobs only, rounded by BLS.
| State | Median Hourly | Median Annual | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $22.85 | $47,530 | 1,450 |
| Alaska | $45.48 | $94,600 | 240 |
| Arizona | $24.16 | $50,260 | 3,060 |
| Arkansas | $22.03 | $45,820 | 1,230 |
| California | $36.82 | $76,590 | 8,390 |
| Colorado | $27.83 | $57,880 | 1,660 |
| Connecticut | $37.86 | $78,750 | 1,480 |
| Delaware | $29.55 | $61,460 | 440 |
| District of Columbia | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Florida | $23.87 | $49,640 | 8,040 |
| Georgia | $27.31 | $56,800 | 3,590 |
| Hawaii | $46.32 | $96,350 | 490 |
| Idaho | $22.29 | $46,350 | 1,290 |
| Illinois | $41.65 | $86,630 | 3,260 |
| Indiana | $30.79 | $64,040 | 4,580 |
| Iowa | $31.95 | $66,460 | 1,650 |
| Kansas | $30.13 | $62,670 | 1,730 |
| Kentucky | $29.17 | $60,680 | 2,210 |
| Louisiana | $24.19 | $50,320 | 1,080 |
| Maine | $29.87 | $62,120 | 830 |
| Maryland | $30.08 | $62,560 | 1,940 |
| Massachusetts | $39.47 | $82,100 | 2,890 |
| Michigan | $31.01 | $64,490 | 4,000 |
| Minnesota | $35.08 | $72,970 | 2,980 |
| Mississippi | $23.80 | $49,500 | 1,260 |
| Missouri | $30.56 | $63,560 | 2,640 |
| Montana | $29.53 | $61,420 | 410 |
| Nebraska | $30.98 | $64,440 | 440 |
| Nevada | $22.47 | $46,730 | 1,270 |
| New Hampshire | $28.75 | $59,800 | 760 |
| New Jersey | $44.64 | $92,840 | 2,790 |
| New Mexico | $27.27 | $56,720 | 640 |
| New York | $35.46 | $73,760 | 6,570 |
| North Carolina | $24.39 | $50,730 | 2,780 |
| North Dakota | $31.34 | $65,180 | 290 |
| Ohio | $35.96 | $74,790 | 4,180 |
| Oklahoma | $31.56 | $65,640 | 2,820 |
| Oregon | $35.46 | $73,750 | 3,250 |
| Pennsylvania | $29.52 | $61,400 | 3,260 |
| Rhode Island | $31.30 | $65,100 | 370 |
| South Carolina | $24.00 | $49,920 | 1,710 |
| South Dakota | $22.98 | $47,800 | 320 |
| Tennessee | $28.45 | $59,170 | 1,850 |
| Texas | $26.08 | $54,240 | 9,540 |
| Utah | $30.36 | $63,140 | 1,810 |
| Vermont | $28.00 | $58,250 | 370 |
| Virginia | $25.10 | $52,220 | 4,520 |
| Washington | $47.38 | $98,550 | 3,440 |
| West Virginia | $34.81 | $72,390 | 540 |
| Wisconsin | $37.38 | $77,760 | 3,180 |
| Wyoming | $28.24 | $58,740 | 160 |
| National | $29.71 | $61,800 | 119,770 |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 47-2211. BLS did not publish a District of Columbia estimate for this occupation in the May 2025 release.
Top 5 and Bottom 5: A $25.35/hr Spread
Top 5 by Median Hourly Wage
- Washington — $47.38/hr ($98,550). The only state where the median sheet metal worker clears $95,000, and its mean ($48.66/hr) sits right on top of the median, which means the high wage is broad, not driven by a handful of top earners.
- Hawaii — $46.32/hr ($96,350). Just 490 workers statewide, and every sheet of galvanized they install arrives by ship.
- Alaska — $45.48/hr ($94,600). The smallest workforce in the top tier at 240 jobs.
- New Jersey — $44.64/hr ($92,840). North Jersey sits inside the New York metro labor market, and 2,790 workers is a deep enough sample to take the number seriously.
- Illinois — $41.65/hr ($86,630). Chicago is home to SMART Local 73, whose members have worked projects including Soldier Field, and the state median reflects a large commercial and institutional base.
New York, often assumed to top any union-trade wage table, lands at $35.46/hr statewide. The New York City local, SMART Local 28, works out of Greenwich Street in Manhattan, but upstate shops pull the statewide median down. A statewide median always blends a big metro with everything around it.
Bottom 5 by Median Hourly Wage
Arkansas ($22.03), Idaho ($22.29), Nevada ($22.47), Alabama ($22.85), South Dakota ($22.98). All five are right-to-work states.
Nevada is the one to look at twice. Its median is $22.47/hr, but its mean is $31.00/hr, an $8.53 gap that is by far the widest in the table. That pattern points to two markets sharing a state: a large low-wage segment and a smaller, much better paid one. Pennsylvania shows a milder version of the same split (median $29.52, mean $35.05). West Virginia runs the other way, with a $34.81 median above its $29.45 mean.
Misclassification is the real story at the bottom of any wage table. A duct installer paid on a 1099 has no workers' compensation coverage, no overtime protection under FLSA Section 7, and pays both halves of FICA, a 7.65% hit on top of an already low rate. In a laceration-heavy trade, working uncovered is a catastrophe waiting on a slipped snip. OEWS surveys employers about their employees, so 1099 workers are not in these numbers at all.
Union vs. Non-Union: What the Data Can and Cannot Show
SMART (the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers) represents unionized sheet metal workers, and union locals negotiate a base wage plus fringe contributions for pension, health and welfare, annuity, and training. That total package is where the union difference usually shows up most, because fringes are not counted in an hourly wage figure.
BLS OEWS does not split wages by union status, and union scale differs by local and by agreement, so there is no sourced national union-versus-non-union figure. If you want a real comparison for your area, get the current wage-and-fringe sheet from your nearest SMART local and set it against the state median in the table above, which blends union and non-union workers. The same approach works for electrician wages by state.
Why SMACNA and SMART Hold the Floor Together
SMACNA, the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association, publishes the HVAC Duct Construction Standards, Metal and Flexible, which specify gauge, reinforcement, and sealing for commercial duct systems and are routinely written into project specifications. Written into a spec, those standards give the work a quality floor a low bidder cannot undercut with thinner metal. SMACNA and SMART also share the International Training Institute (ITI), the industry's national apprenticeship and training organization. A contractor bidding 26-gauge where the spec calls for 24 is not competing on productivity; they are shorting the building. When the standard-setting body and the union both have an interest in stopping that, the wage floor has something real underneath it.
Cost-of-Living Adjustment: Where the Wage Actually Buys Something
A nominal state median only tells half the story. Hawaii's $46.32/hr has to cover some of the highest housing and goods costs in the country, while Midwest states like Ohio ($35.96), Wisconsin ($37.38), and Minnesota ($35.08) pay well above the national median with living costs closer to average.
You can adjust for that yourself: take the state median from the table above and divide by the state's Regional Price Parity from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (national average = 100). A state with an RPP of 90 makes a $35.00 wage behave like about $38.90; a state at 110 makes it behave like about $31.80. Run that for any states you are weighing before you move for a wage that looks bigger on paper.
The Apprenticeship Path: Four to Five Years
According to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, most construction sheet metal workers learn through 4- or 5-year apprenticeships that combine paid on-the-job training with technical instruction. Applicants need a high school diploma or equivalent and must be at least 18, and those who finish are considered journey workers. Classroom time covers layout geometry, blueprint reading, welding, and code requirements.
The wage ladder in a registered program is set in the program standards and, in union programs, in the local agreement, starting at a percentage of journeyman scale and stepping up on a fixed schedule. The percentages and the number of classroom hours vary by program, so get the exact schedule from the program you apply to. Where programs rank by placement rate is covered in our apprenticeship program rankings. Non-union paths exist through ABC chapters and merit-shop employers, but step increases there may be discretionary. Get every one in writing before you accept.
One protection apprentices should know: 29 CFR 30.3 prohibits sponsors of registered apprenticeship from discriminating on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age (40 or older), genetic information, or disability. A program holding you on shop cleanup past your rotation schedule, skipping step raises, or steering you away from welding certification may be violating its registered standards. Document dates and report it to your State Apprenticeship Agency or the DOL Office of Apprenticeship.
Safety: The Three Hazards That End Sheet Metal Careers
Falls, fume, and noise. Rooftop unit work and overhead duct hanging put this trade above the 6-foot trigger in 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(1) for much of the workday, and a lift staged wrong to save fifteen minutes is a common setup for a fall. Welding galvanized duct releases zinc oxide fume: shop settings fall under 29 CFR 1910.1000 Table Z-1, field construction under 29 CFR 1926.55, and 29 CFR 1926.353(c) requires general mechanical or local exhaust ventilation when welding or cutting zinc-bearing metals in enclosed spaces. Metal fume fever gets treated as a nuisance in too many shops; it is an exposure event. And 29 CFR 1926.52 sets the construction noise limit at 90 dBA for an 8-hour day and requires a continuing hearing conservation program wherever exposure exceeds the table limits, which a shop running plasma and shears can do easily. Hearing loss is permanent. Insist on local exhaust at the bench and plugs on the floor.
Outlook: Steady Demand, Steady Openings
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projects sheet metal worker employment to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, from 131,100 to 134,400 jobs, about as fast as the average for all occupations. The bigger number is replacement: BLS expects about 9,800 openings per year over the decade, most of them from workers retiring or moving to other occupations. Openings far outnumber net new jobs, and that churn keeps steady demand for trained installers and fabricators.
Data center, semiconductor, and institutional HVAC work all carry heavy mechanical scopes, and ventilation upgrades have kept duct replacement and rebalancing on capital plans. We are not publishing a wage forecast for 2027. The next OEWS release, covering May 2026, is the number to watch.
For contractors, the wage is only the visible part. Workers' compensation rates for sheet metal classifications vary widely by state and by your experience modifier, with FICA, FUTA, SUTA, and liability on top. Run true crew cost through our labor burden calculator before pricing trunk duct by the linear foot, and size the install crew against your takeoff with the crew size calculator.
Your Action Item for This Week
If you work sheet metal: find your state in the table and compare it to your check. If you are well under your state median with five years in the trade, treat that as a market signal, not a personal failing. BLS projects close to 10,000 openings a year, and that arithmetic gives you leverage. Then pick one certification, such as TAB, and price it against your local's rate sheet. Confirm you are on a W-2, not a 1099, because in a laceration trade working uncovered is the largest financial risk you carry.
If you employ sheet metal workers: check every installer against the state median here, and run true crew cost through the labor burden calculator before your next mechanical bid. Losing a TAB tech or a stainless welder over a few dollars an hour is the most expensive money a mechanical contractor saves.
Sources and data cited:
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, SOC 47-2211, national and state estimates: www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472211.htm (retrieved via the BLS Public Data API, October 18, 2026)
- BLS OEWS May 2025 national medians for carpenters (47-2031), brickmasons and blockmasons (47-2021), and electricians (47-2111)
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Sheet Metal Workers: www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/sheet-metal-workers.htm (2025 pay, 2025-35 projections)
- OSHA fall protection, 29 CFR 1926.501; construction noise, 29 CFR 1926.52
- OSHA fumes and air contaminants, 29 CFR 1926.55, 29 CFR 1926.353, 29 CFR 1910.1000 Table Z-1
- DOL Registered Apprenticeship standards, 29 CFR Parts 29 and 30
- SMACNA HVAC Duct Construction Standards, Metal and Flexible
- Related: Electrician Wages by State 2026 | Mason Wages by State 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What state pays sheet metal workers the most?
Washington, at a $47.38/hr median ($98,550/year) in the BLS OEWS May 2025 data, followed by Hawaii at $46.32/hr, Alaska at $45.48/hr, New Jersey at $44.64/hr, and Illinois at $41.65/hr.
What is the national median wage for sheet metal workers?
$29.71 per hour, or $61,800 per year, as of May 2025 (BLS OEWS, SOC 47-2211). The mean is higher, at $32.62/hr ($67,850), and the top 10% earn more than $50.79/hr.
How much more do union sheet metal workers make?
BLS does not publish wages by union status for this occupation, and union scale varies by local, so there is no sourced national figure for the gap. The union difference is usually largest in the total package, because pension, health, annuity, and training fringes are not counted in hourly wage data. Compare your local's wage-and-fringe sheet to your state median.
How long is a sheet metal apprenticeship?
Four or five years for most construction sheet metal workers, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, combining paid on-the-job training with technical instruction. You need a high school diploma or equivalent and must be at least 18. Hours and the wage step schedule are set by each registered program.
Is the sheet metal trade growing?
Modestly. BLS projects 3% employment growth from 2025 to 2035, about average, but about 9,800 openings per year as workers retire or leave the occupation. That replacement demand matters more to job seekers than the headline growth rate.
