How much do cement masons make in Illinois in 2026?

The median cement mason in Illinois earns $78,170 a year, which works out to about $37.58 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That puts Illinois cement masons well above entry-level construction wages for most trades, reflecting the physical skill and precision the work demands — flatwork, structural concrete, troweling, finishing, and knowing exactly when to work a slab before it sets.

Pay spreads wide across experience levels. Workers at the 25th percentile — typically those earlier in their careers or working in slower regional markets — earn around $57,860 a year, or about $27.82 an hour. Workers at the 75th percentile pull in $98,930 a year, roughly $47.56 an hour. That $41,070 gap between the bottom and top quartiles is significant. It tells you that staying in the trade, building skills, and working in the right markets can nearly double your base pay over a career.

Illinois is a geographically varied state for construction work. The Chicago metro area — including Cook, DuPage, Will, Kane, and Lake counties — concentrates the most commercial and infrastructure concrete work in the state. Large pours for high-rises, highway and bridge decks, airport aprons, and warehouse slabs keep crews busy and tend to support wages at or above the state median. Downstate markets in Springfield, Peoria, Champaign, and Rockford have active construction sectors too, but project volumes are smaller and wage pressure is less intense. If your goal is top-quartile pay, positioning yourself in the Chicago metro or on major infrastructure corridors is the clearest path.

Cement masonry is a seasonal trade in Illinois. The outdoor construction window runs roughly April through November in most years, with harsh winters slowing or stopping exterior concrete work entirely. Workers who land on indoor projects — parking structures, warehouse floors, industrial slabs — can maintain steadier winter hours, but many masons see compressed work seasons. That matters for annual income: workers who log fewer than 2,080 hours because of seasonal layoffs will earn less than the annualized figures suggest. Overtime during peak months can partially offset that. A mason earning $37.58 an hour who works 200 hours of overtime at 1.5x rate adds roughly $11,274 to the annual total — meaningful money if you plan for it.

Apprenticeships are the standard entry point. Cement mason apprenticeships in Illinois typically run three to four years and combine on-the-job hours with classroom instruction covering mix ratios, formwork, reinforcing placement, and surface finishing techniques. Apprentice wages start below journeyman scale and step up at regular intervals — typically every 1,000 hours worked. Completing an apprenticeship and achieving journeyman status is the single most reliable way to reach the median wage tier and keep moving toward the 75th percentile.

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

Specialty skills accelerate pay progression. Masons who become proficient in decorative concrete — stamped patterns, exposed aggregate, acid staining, polished floors — open access to higher-margin residential and commercial projects that smaller contractors handle. Laser screed operation, vertical concrete (columns and walls), and slip-form paving are also skills worth developing. Contractors building large industrial floors or tilt-up construction panels consistently need experienced finishers and will pay for reliability.

The BLS OEWS figures used here are from May 2025 and represent wage and salary workers. They do not capture self-employed masons running their own operations, who may earn above or below these figures depending on how much overhead they carry and how aggressively they price work. The data also represents a statewide average, so local demand swings — a major infrastructure project, a construction boom in a specific metro — can push rates higher than what the percentiles reflect at any given time.