How much do brickmasons make in Tennessee in 2026?

Brickmasons in Tennessee earn a median wage of $63,850 per year, which works out to about $30.70 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's the middle of the pack — half of brickmasons in the state earn more, half earn less. If you're just starting out or working in a slower market, the 25th percentile sits at $54,340 a year, or roughly $26.13 an hour. Experienced masons with steady commercial or industrial work tend to land in the top quarter, which starts at $72,910 a year — about $35.05 an hour. All figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025.

The $18,570 spread between the 25th and 75th percentile is significant. That gap doesn't happen by accident. It reflects real differences in experience, specialty, employer type, and where in Tennessee you're working. A mason laying brick on a residential subdivision in a rural county is not earning the same as one working commercial tiltwall or restoration work in Nashville or Memphis. Urban metro areas generally support higher wages because project volume is higher, general contractors pay more to secure reliable labor, and the cost of doing business is priced into the bid.

Specialty work moves the needle, too. Straight block laying is foundational but common. Masons who can handle detailed ornamental brickwork, historic restoration, refractory lining, or industrial chimney and kiln work can command rates above the 75th percentile, though those niche numbers aren't broken out separately in this dataset. The same goes for foremen and lead masons — supervisory responsibility typically adds to your effective hourly rate even when your base classification stays the same.

Employer type matters in Tennessee. Large commercial general contractors and masonry subcontractors with long-term project pipelines tend to pay more consistently than residential builders who work seasonally or in tight bid markets. Public works and institutional projects — schools, hospitals, government buildings — often carry prevailing wage requirements that push hourly rates higher than the open market for comparable private work, though no statewide union scale is available for brickmasons in Tennessee to report here.

Hours and overtime are part of the real picture. A mason running 48- or 50-hour weeks during peak construction season in the spring and summer can significantly outpace the annual salary figures listed above, since those are based on standard full-time hours. Conversely, weather shutdowns and slow winter months in Tennessee can trim your actual annual take-home well below the median if you're not on a steady commercial schedule.

Apprentices working under a journeyman typically start below the 25th percentile while they accumulate hours. Most apprenticeship programs in the masonry trades are structured on a percentage-of-journeyman-scale model, so as your skill level and hour count rise, your pay steps up accordingly. By the time you complete a full apprenticeship and earn journeyman status, you should be in the range of the median or above, depending on your market.

The bottom line for Tennessee brickmasons: median pay of $63,850 a year is a solid middle-market wage for a physical skilled trade. Getting above the $72,910 threshold comes down to staying sharp on specialty work, pursuing commercial and industrial employers over residential-only shops, and positioning yourself where the project volume is. The numbers in this page reflect what workers in this state are actually earning right now, not projections or estimates from a small sample.