How much do brickmasons make in Illinois in 2026?

Illinois brickmasons at the median earn $89,980 a year, which works out to $43.26 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That number comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, published May 2025. It covers brickmasons and blockmasons working in the state across commercial, industrial, and residential sectors.

The pay range spreads considerably depending on where you sit in the workforce. The 25th percentile — workers earlier in their careers or in lower-paying markets — earns $62,450 annually, or about $30.02 an hour. The 75th percentile earns $102,260 annually, which is roughly $49.16 an hour. That $39,810 gap between the bottom quarter and the top quarter tells you this trade rewards experience and specialization in a real, measurable way.

Getting into the top tier takes time and the right kind of work. Brickmasons who move into restoration, historic tuckpointing, or high-tolerance commercial projects command more than those doing standard block foundation work. Illinois has significant demand for both — Chicago's dense building stock includes aging masonry that requires skilled restoration, while suburban and downstate commercial construction keeps block and brick crews busy on new builds. Where you work within the state matters, and not just a little.

Chicago and its immediate suburbs typically offer higher wages than downstate markets. Cook County construction wages reflect the cost of living and the concentration of large general contractors who bid bigger projects. That said, downstate crews on industrial or agricultural construction can still hit the median range, particularly when overtime is factored in.

Overtime is real in this trade. Bricklaying is seasonal in Illinois — winter weather slows exterior masonry significantly, which means crews often run heavy hours from April through November to make up for the slower months. A mason working 300 hours of overtime in a strong season can push total earnings well above the BLS annual figure, which reflects straight-time equivalent wages and may not fully capture overtime or prevailing wage premiums on public projects.

Prevailing wage work is worth understanding. Illinois has a Prevailing Wage Act that sets minimum rates on public projects by county. These rates are set through annual determinations and are frequently higher than the BLS median for the same trade, especially in northeastern Illinois. If you're working on a school, road, or government building, confirm whether prevailing wage applies — it can move your effective hourly rate meaningfully above the $43.26 median.

Apprenticeship is the standard path into this trade. A typical brickmason apprenticeship runs three to four years, combining on-the-job hours with classroom instruction. Apprentices start at a fraction of journeyman scale and step up in fixed increments as they log hours. By the final year of apprenticeship, earnings often approach or reach the lower end of the journeyman range. Some workers may be covered by a collective bargaining agreement — check with your local for current rates.

If you're already journeyman-level and want to push your pay higher, the clearest levers are specialization, foreman responsibility, and geography. Tuckpointing and historic masonry restoration pay a premium because the pool of workers who can do it well is small. Moving into a foreman or lead mason role adds supervisory pay on top of your base rate. And targeting contractors who regularly bid prevailing wage public work gets you onto job sites where the floor is higher than the private market average.

The BLS numbers here are a solid benchmark, but they're a snapshot of reported wages — they don't capture every cash payment, the value of benefits like health insurance and pension contributions, or the full picture of overtime. Use the median and percentile figures to judge where you stand and where you're headed, not as a ceiling.