How much do brickmasons make in Michigan in 2026?

The median brickmason in Michigan earns $63,500 a year, which works out to about $30.53 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That number sits in the middle of a wide range: the bottom quarter of brickmasons in the state earns $55,430 or less (~$26.65/hr), while the top quarter clears $81,050 or more (~$38.97/hr). The spread between the 25th and 75th percentile is nearly $25,600 — a meaningful gap that reflects how much experience, specialty work, and employer type can shift your pay in this trade. All figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025.

Entry-level brickmasons in Michigan — or those newer to the state's labor market — tend to land near or below that $55,430 mark. At this stage, you're likely working on residential foundations, block walls, and straightforward brick veneer. The work is steady but not yet specialized. As you build years on the tools and develop skills in tuck-pointing, restoration masonry, or decorative brickwork, pay climbs toward and past the median. Workers in the top quartile at $81,050 are typically the ones doing complex commercial and institutional projects — think university buildings, hospitals, or high-end historic restoration — where precision and speed both matter.

Geography inside Michigan moves the needle. The Detroit metro area and surrounding suburbs (Wayne, Oakland, Macomb counties) generate the heaviest volume of commercial masonry work, and wages in that corridor tend to push toward or past the median. Grand Rapids has a strong construction market of its own, driven by ongoing commercial development, and brickmason pay there competes reasonably with the Detroit area. In more rural parts of the Upper Peninsula or smaller downstate counties, the volume of available work is lower, which can keep wages closer to the 25th percentile — though a mason willing to travel can often access better-paying jobs in the larger metros.

Seasonality is real in Michigan. The outdoor masonry season typically runs from spring through late fall. Hard winters push some workers toward interior projects — fireplace surrounds, block work in warehouse or industrial settings — but hours can still thin out between November and March. Workers who stack overtime in the busy season, running 50- or 60-hour weeks from May through October, can significantly outpace the annual figures quoted here, since those BLS numbers reflect average weekly hours across the full year. Conversely, a winter slowdown with reduced hours will pull your actual annual earnings below the published median even if your hourly rate is solid.

Apprenticeship is the standard path into this trade. A masonry apprenticeship typically runs three to four years, combining on-the-job training with classroom instruction covering layout, blueprint reading, materials handling, and mortar mix ratios. Apprentice wages start below journeyman scale and step up at regular intervals — by the final year of an apprenticeship, pay is usually close to journeyman rates. Michigan does not require a state license specifically for brickmasons, but employer requirements and project specifications often reward formal apprenticeship completion and any relevant certifications in historic masonry or advanced restoration techniques.

Some workers may be covered by a collective bargaining agreement — check with your local for current rates.

The BLS data has limits worth knowing. It captures base wages reported by employers and does not include overtime premiums, per diem travel pay, or the value of employer-paid benefits like health insurance and retirement contributions. A brickmason earning $30.53/hr base with strong benefits and regular overtime weeks is in materially better shape than that number alone suggests. When comparing offers, always ask about the full package — not just the hourly rate.