How much do elevator installers make in North Carolina in 2026?

Elevator installers and repairers in North Carolina earn a median annual wage of $107,700, which works out to about $51.78 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That figure puts this trade well above most construction and extraction occupations in the state. If you are weighing whether to enter this field or negotiate a raise, that median is your clearest starting point.

The bottom quarter of earners — workers at the 25th percentile — take home around $48,330 a year, or roughly $23.24 an hour. That range typically reflects newer journeyworkers, apprentices who have recently completed their training, or workers in lower-volume markets away from the state's major metro areas. It is not a bad starting point for a skilled trade, but the ceiling is considerably higher.

Workers at the 75th percentile earn $122,770 annually, which is approximately $59.02 an hour. That tier generally represents experienced mechanics with several years of field time, those working in high-demand metros like Charlotte or Raleigh-Durham, or workers who have taken on supervisory responsibilities. The spread between the 25th and 75th percentile — more than $74,000 per year — is unusually wide for a skilled trade, which means where you land in your career and geography matters a great deal.

North Carolina's elevator trade is driven largely by commercial and residential construction activity concentrated in the Charlotte metro, the Research Triangle, and the Triad. High-rise office buildings, hospitals, hotels, and multi-family residential towers all require installation crews. Maintenance contracts on existing equipment provide steady repair and inspection work that fills out the schedule between new installations. That blend of new construction and ongoing service work tends to keep hours consistent for experienced mechanics even when construction slows.

Elevator installers typically complete a four-year apprenticeship that combines on-the-job training with technical instruction. Once you finish your apprenticeship and become a journeyworker, your pay jumps substantially — which is the main reason the gap between the 25th and 50th percentile is so large in this trade. The work itself involves electrical systems, hydraulics, mechanical components, and increasingly sophisticated control software, which is why the trade commands higher wages than many other construction crafts.

No state-specific union scale data is available for elevator installers in North Carolina through our current dataset. In states and markets where collective bargaining agreements are in place, union scale figures can set a clear floor for journeyworker pay. If you are working under a union agreement in NC, your local's wage schedule is the authoritative number to reference.

All figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. TradesPays reports these numbers without adjustment so you can compare them directly to BLS data yourself.