How much do drywall installers make in Virginia in 2026?

Drywall installers in Virginia earn a median wage of $55,840 per year, which works out to about $26.85 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's the midpoint — half of all drywall installers in the state earn more, and half earn less. If you're just starting out or working in a slower market, the 25th percentile sits at $47,510 annually, or roughly $22.84 an hour. Workers with more experience, faster production rates, or jobs on commercial projects can land at the 75th percentile: $60,770 a year, about $29.22 an hour.

The spread from the bottom quarter to the top quarter is roughly $13,260 per year. That's not a trivial gap. It reflects real differences in skill level, speed, the type of work being done, and where in Virginia a worker is based.

Northern Virginia is the biggest wage driver in the state. The DC metro area pulls wages up because of the sheer volume of commercial, government, and high-end residential construction. Hanging and finishing drywall on a large office build-out in Tysons or a government contractor facility in Arlington typically pays better than residential patch-and-paint work in rural parts of the state. Farther south and west — in areas like Roanoke, Lynchburg, or the Shenandoah Valley — construction volumes are lower and wages tend to track closer to or below the statewide median.

Your specific role matters too. A worker who only hangs board earns differently from one who both hangs and finishes to a Level 5 finish standard. Level 5 finishing — the skim-coat, glass-mat, or topping-compound work required for high-gloss or critical-light conditions — is a more specialized skill and commands a premium. Spray texture, specialty ceiling systems, and steel framing all add to your market value. The more of the full scope you can cover, the less replaceable you are, and that shows up in your pay.

Employers also matter. Non-union drywall subcontractors, general contractors with in-house crews, and specialty commercial finishing firms each pay differently. No union scale data is available for drywall installers in Virginia through BLS OEWS, so the figures here reflect the overall wage distribution across all employment types in the state.

Commercial work — offices, schools, hospitals, hotels — generally pays better than straight residential, especially on prevailing wage or Davis-Bacon covered projects where pay floors are set by contract. If you're not already checking whether a project carries prevailing wage requirements, that's worth doing before you take a job.

Production speed is a factor that wage tables don't capture directly, but it's a real part of your earnings picture if you're paid by the board or by the square foot rather than hourly. A fast, accurate hanger or finisher on piece-rate work can push their effective hourly rate well above what the BLS percentiles show. The tradeoff is that slower periods — weather delays, material shortages, inspection holds — cut into that upside.

For workers looking to move up the range, the clearest paths are adding finishing skills if you're currently only a hanger, getting experience on commercial projects, and positioning yourself in higher-cost metro markets. The difference between the 25th and 75th percentile in Virginia is about $6.38 an hour. Over a full year, that's more than $13,000. The skills and location choices that get you from one end of that range to the other are worth taking seriously.

All figures on this page come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025.