How much do construction laborers make in Wisconsin in 2026?

The median construction laborer in Wisconsin earns $56,100 per year, which works out to about $26.97 per hour based on a 2,080-hour work year. That number sits squarely in the middle of the range — half of laborers in the state earn more, half earn less. If you're trying to figure out where you land or where you're headed, the full spread tells the real story.

At the 25th percentile, Wisconsin construction laborers take home $46,060 annually, or roughly $22.14 an hour. Workers at this end of the range are typically newer to the trade, working for smaller residential contractors, or doing general site cleanup and material handling without specialized skills. It's a starting point, not a ceiling.

The 75th percentile sits at $72,130 per year — about $34.68 an hour. Laborers at this level have usually spent several years in the field, picked up specialized skills like concrete formwork, pipe-laying, demolition, or operating small equipment, and are working on commercial or heavy civil projects where productivity demands are higher. The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is more than $26,000 a year. That gap is real, and it's driven by specific, learnable things.

Construction labor in Wisconsin is seasonal in a way that directly affects annual earnings. Most outdoor site work slows between November and March, and some laborers are laid off or move to shorter hours during those months. Workers who line up indoor projects — concrete flatwork inside structures, utility installation, or industrial maintenance shutdowns — can protect their hours through winter. A laborer who works 2,080 hours a year earns meaningfully more than one who logs 1,600, even at the same hourly rate. If you're at $26.97 an hour but only working nine months, your actual annual take is closer to $41,800.

Geography within Wisconsin pushes wages around. The Milwaukee metro area, with its volume of commercial construction, infrastructure work, and large general contractors, tends to offer higher wages than rural parts of the state. The Madison area is similarly active, particularly in institutional and government construction tied to state agencies and the university system. Green Bay and Wausau sit somewhere in between. If you're willing to drive to a larger metro for work, the hourly difference can be worth it.

Specialization is the fastest lever for moving up within the laborer classification. Laborers who get certified in hazardous materials abatement — asbestos or lead removal — can command a premium because those certifications require documented training and carry regulatory oversight. Concrete finishing, controlled demolition work, and flagging or traffic control certifications also add to an hourly rate. None of these require a four-year degree. Most can be completed in days or weeks through a training provider or through the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters and related labor organizations that serve Wisconsin.

The BLS OEWS data used here reflects wages reported by employers across Wisconsin. It captures base hourly and straight-time wages but does not include overtime pay, per diem, or employer contributions to benefits like health insurance and pension funds. Laborers working prevailing wage jobs on publicly funded projects — roads, bridges, public buildings — are required by Wisconsin's Prevailing Wage law (where applicable to state projects) to receive rates set for their classification in that county. Those rates can be meaningfully higher than the BLS figures shown here, particularly on heavy highway work.

Overtime is common on large project sites with tight schedules, especially in the summer push season. A laborer earning $26.97 straight time earns $40.46 for every hour over 40 in a week. On a busy week with 10 hours of overtime, that's an extra $134 on top of the regular paycheck. Laborers who consistently work overtime-heavy schedules on commercial or civil projects often see their actual annual earnings run above the 75th percentile figure even if their base rate is median.

The numbers on this page come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025 release. They represent a broad cross-section of Wisconsin employers and reflect conditions across the full state, not any single metro or project type.