How much do drywall installers make in Massachusetts in 2026?

Drywall installers in Massachusetts earn a median wage of $69,500 a year, which works out to roughly $33.41 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That puts Massachusetts comfortably above the national median for this trade, reflecting the state's high construction activity and persistent demand for finish work in both residential and commercial sectors.

The bottom quarter of drywall installers in Massachusetts — workers at the 25th percentile — take home around $61,390 annually, or about $29.51 an hour. These are typically workers with less experience, newer to a crew, or working in markets with lighter commercial activity. It is still a solid starting point compared with many other states.

The top quarter — workers at the 75th percentile — earn $80,280 a year or about $38.60 an hour. Getting to that tier usually means a combination of years on the job, speed and accuracy on larger commercial installations, and willingness to take on more complex scope like multi-family residential high-rises, hospital builds, or large retail tenant fit-outs concentrated around Boston, Worcester, and Springfield.

The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is nearly $19,000 a year — about $9.09 an hour. That spread tells you experience and specialization pay off meaningfully in this trade in Massachusetts. A worker who moves from entry-level hanging to finishing, taping, and texturing, or who picks up metal framing and commercial systems, can expect to move up that range faster than someone who stays on the same type of residential work.

No union scale data is available for drywall installers in Massachusetts through the BLS OEWS data set. That does not mean union work is absent — Boston in particular has active trades activity — but TradesPays does not publish union scale figures it cannot verify, so this page reflects the full cross-section of employed drywall installers in the state, union and non-union combined.

Hours matter in this trade. Drywall work can be seasonal, with commercial projects staying steadier through winter than residential. A worker averaging 48 weeks of full-time hours rather than 52 would net roughly $64,150 at the median hourly rate, not $69,500. When comparing job offers, always pin down expected annual hours and whether overtime is common, not just the stated hourly rate.

All figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025 release. BLS collects this data directly from employers across the state, making it one of the most reliable benchmarks available for trade wages.

If you are negotiating pay or sizing up a new job offer, use the $33.41 median as your anchor for experienced journeyman-level work in Massachusetts. Anything below $29.51 an hour deserves a hard look at what is driving it below the 25th percentile — lighter benefits, part-time hours, or genuinely lower-wage market conditions in a specific region of the state. Anything at or above $38.60 puts you in the top quarter of earners in this trade statewide.