How much do plasterers make in New York in 2026?

The median plasterer in New York earns $120,180 a year, which works out to about $57.78 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's a strong number, and it reflects both the skill ceiling of the trade and the high cost of doing business in New York — contractors have to pay to keep experienced hands.

The spread across the pay scale tells an important story. Workers at the 25th percentile earn $73,000 a year, or roughly $35.10 an hour. That's not entry-level poverty — it's a solid starting point — but there's nearly $47,000 of annual pay sitting between the bottom quarter and the median. If you're currently in that lower range, you're not stuck there. The gap mostly reflects years of experience, the complexity of work you can take on, and which employers you're working for.

The 75th percentile sits at $120,190 a year — essentially dead even with the median at $57.78 an hour. That compressed spread between the median and the 75th percentile is unusual and suggests a ceiling effect in reported wages: many well-paid plasterers in New York may be earning additional income through overtime, prevailing wage differentials, or project bonuses that don't always show up cleanly in survey data. The BLS OEWS figures capture base wages but don't always account for shift differentials, per diem, or overtime pay, all of which can add meaningfully to a plasterer's annual take-home.

Geography within New York matters considerably. Plasterers working in New York City and the surrounding metro area — including Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties — typically command higher rates than those working upstate in Buffalo, Rochester, or Albany. The cost of materials, the complexity of projects (historic renovation, high-end residential, commercial interiors), and the concentration of union and prevailing wage work all skew pay upward in the metro region. If you're upstate and eyeing a higher number, moving to the city or picking up prevailing wage public projects is one of the fastest paths.

Plasterers do ornamental, Venetian, three-coat, and stucco work that requires years to master. That experience curve is real and it shows in the pay data. Someone with two years in the trade handling basic patch work is not in the same earnings bracket as a journeyman who can execute historic restoration plasterwork or complex curved surfaces on a high-end Manhattan brownstone renovation. Specialty skills push you toward the top of the range.

Seasonality affects plasterers more than some other finishing trades. Interior work can carry through winter, but exterior stucco and restoration projects slow down significantly in colder months. Workers who plan for this — building up savings in high-billing months, picking up interior commercial work in winter, or diversifying into related finishing skills — sustain their annual earnings better than those who don't.

Some plasterers in New York may be covered by a collective bargaining agreement — check with your local for current rates. Prevailing wage work on public projects is another avenue worth pursuing; those rates are published and often exceed standard market wages, particularly in New York City.

To push past the median, the levers are specific: take on more complex restoration or ornamental work, get credentialed in historic preservation techniques, pursue prevailing wage and public projects, move toward foreman or supervisor roles, or add estimating skills that let you move into running a small crew. Each of those steps has a measurable effect on what you can charge or what an employer will pay to keep you.

All figures on this page come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. TradesPays reports BLS data directly — no adjustments, no blended averages.