How much do cement masons make in New York in 2026?

Cement masons in New York earn a median annual salary of $64,040, which works out to roughly $30.79 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That number sits at the midpoint — half of cement masons in the state earn more, half earn less. It's a useful anchor, but your actual pay depends heavily on experience, employer, and where in the state you're working.

At the 25th percentile, cement masons in New York take home around $56,540 a year, or about $27.18 an hour. Workers at this level are typically newer to the trade, working for smaller contractors, or putting in fewer overtime hours. It's still a livable wage in many parts of the state, but in high-cost metros like New York City or Westchester County, $27.18 an hour goes significantly less far than it does upstate.

At the 75th percentile, pay climbs to $84,440 annually — around $40.60 an hour. Masons hitting these numbers generally have a decade or more of experience, work on large commercial or infrastructure projects, and put in substantial overtime. Concrete finishing on major construction sites — bridges, tunnels, high-rise foundations — tends to pay at the higher end of that range. Specialty work like decorative concrete, overlays, or polished floors can also push hourly rates up for those who've built those skills.

The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is $27,900 a year. That's not a small difference — it represents roughly 49% more pay at the top end compared to the bottom end of the middle range. For a cement mason planning a career trajectory, understanding what separates a $27/hr worker from a $40/hr worker matters. It typically comes down to years on the job, the complexity of work you're trusted with, your reliability, and the size and type of contractor you're aligned with.

New York's construction industry is one of the busiest in the country, with significant infrastructure investment, ongoing commercial development, and a dense concentration of union-affiliated contractors particularly in the New York City metro area. While no union scale data is available for this specific trade and state in the current dataset, many cement masons in New York work under collective bargaining agreements that establish minimum pay rates, benefit contributions, and overtime rules. If you're weighing a union versus non-union shop, it's worth asking specifically about the full package — base wage, pension, health, and annuity contributions — not just the hourly rate on your check.

Overtime is a major factor for cement masons. Concrete doesn't wait — pours often happen in early morning hours, on weekends, or whenever weather windows open up. A cement mason earning $30.79 straight time makes $46.19 at time-and-a-half. If you're logging 200 hours of overtime in a year, that adds roughly $3,080 to your annual take-home on top of the base. Experienced masons who are first calls on a contractor's list can rack up significantly more overtime than that.

Geography within New York also moves the needle. New York City and Long Island tend to pay more than upstate markets like Buffalo, Syracuse, or Albany, reflecting both higher cost of living and the density of large-scale commercial work. That said, upstate masons on highway or infrastructure contracts can compete with metro-area pay when projects are running and overtime is available.

All figures on this page come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. These are survey-based estimates and represent base wages — they do not include the value of employer-paid benefits, pension contributions, or overtime.