How much do glaziers make in Ohio in 2026?

The median glazier in Ohio earns $60,200 a year, which works out to roughly $28.94 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That figure comes from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data released May 2025, and it represents the worker in the middle of the pay range — half of Ohio glaziers earn more, half earn less.

The spread between the bottom and top of the distribution matters a lot in this trade. Workers at the 25th percentile — typically those earlier in their careers or working in lower-demand markets — take home about $48,320 annually, or roughly $23.23 an hour. Workers at the 75th percentile earn $64,780, around $31.14 an hour. That's a $16,460 annual gap between a newer glazier and an experienced one, which is meaningful over the course of a career.

Glaziers in Ohio install, cut, and fit glass in commercial storefronts, curtain wall systems, residential windows, and specialty applications like structural glass and skylights. The work is physically demanding and requires precision — a bad cut or a misread measurement on a large commercial lite costs money fast. That accountability is part of why experienced glaziers can command the higher end of the scale.

Geography within Ohio plays a real role in where you land on this pay curve. Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are the state's largest construction markets. Commercial high-rise and institutional work concentrated in these metros tends to pay more than residential replacement work in smaller markets. A glazier doing curtain wall installations on a downtown Columbus office tower is likely pulling closer to the 75th percentile than someone doing window replacements in a rural county. If you're willing to travel to where the big commercial jobs are, your annual take-home reflects it.

Experience is the most direct lever on pay within this trade. An apprentice glazier working through a four-year program earns a percentage of journeyman scale that steps up each year — typically starting around 50% and reaching full scale upon completion. Once you're a journeyman with five or more years of field experience, especially on curtain wall, storefront, or structural glazing systems, you're positioned to move toward or past the 75th percentile.

Overtime is common on commercial glazing jobs, particularly when general contractors are pushing to close in a building before weather windows close or to hit a CO deadline. At $28.94/hr straight time, a glazier working ten hours of overtime per week at time-and-a-half adds roughly $21,700 to annual gross pay over a full year — pushing total compensation well above what the BLS base figure captures.

The BLS figures here are straight wages only. They do not include employer contributions to health insurance, retirement plans, or paid time off. Total compensation packages on commercial work can meaningfully exceed the base wage numbers shown on this page.

Some workers may be covered by a collective bargaining agreement — check with your local for current rates.

Ohio does not require a statewide glazier license, but many employers require OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 certification, and some specialty work — particularly structural glazing on high-rises — demands fall protection and scaffold competency credentials. Adding these certifications costs relatively little in time and money but signals to employers that you're ready for higher-complexity, higher-paying work.

If you want to move your pay up, the clearest paths are: log more hours on commercial and curtain wall work rather than residential replacement, pursue specialty skills like structural silicone glazing or blast-resistant glass systems, move into a lead or foreman role on larger crews, or relocate to or pursue projects in the state's major metro construction markets. Each of these shifts tends to translate directly into a higher hourly rate or more billable hours per year.