How much do plumbers make in Georgia in 2026?

The median plumber salary in Georgia is $57,200 a year, which works out to about $27.50 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That number comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025, and covers licensed journeyman plumbers across the state.

The spread between the bottom quarter and the top quarter tells the real story. Plumbers at the 25th percentile — typically those earlier in their careers or working in lower-wage markets — earn around $45,130 a year, or about $21.70 an hour. Plumbers at the 75th percentile pull in $68,640 a year, roughly $33.00 an hour. That's a $23,510 annual gap between a plumber just getting established and one who has built up years of experience, a strong book of work, or a specialty skillset. If you're currently sitting near the bottom of that range, there is real money available to you on the other side of experience and licensing milestones.

Georgia requires plumbers to hold a state-issued license. The path generally runs from apprentice to journeyman to master, with each step requiring documented hours and a passing score on a state exam. A licensed master plumber in Georgia can pull permits and run a crew, which is one of the clearest ways to cross into the upper wage band. Plumbers who earn a master's license and move into lead or foreman roles frequently earn wages that push into or past that $68,640 75th-percentile mark, though the BLS data captures a broad snapshot and won't reflect every top earner in the state.

Geography within Georgia matters. Atlanta and its suburbs — Gwinnett, Cobb, Fulton, Cherokee — have dense commercial and residential construction pipelines that tend to support higher wages than rural counties in South Georgia or the mountains. A plumber working commercial new construction in Atlanta is likely to out-earn a counterpart doing service calls in a smaller market, even with similar license levels. If you're open to relocation or longer commutes, the metro's demand for plumbers is steady and wage competition among contractors is real.

Overtime and seasonal demand also affect take-home pay in ways the annual figures don't fully capture. Summer construction surges and the weeks following hard freezes both drive call volume up. A plumber working 50- or 55-hour weeks during a busy stretch can add meaningful income beyond what the base hourly rate suggests. At $27.50 straight time, an hour of overtime at time-and-a-half runs $41.25 — and those hours add up fast over a season.

Specialty work moves pay upward as well. Plumbers who develop competency in medical gas piping, fire suppression systems, or industrial process piping can charge more and attract employers willing to pay a premium. Commercial work — hotels, hospitals, multi-family developments — generally pays above residential service work. If you're doing purely residential service and repair, the data suggests that pivoting toward commercial construction or developing a specialty is one of the most direct routes to the upper end of the pay range.

Some Georgia plumbers work under union agreements. If you're covered by a collective bargaining agreement, your actual wage and benefit package are set by that agreement. Check your local's CBA directly for the exact figures — the BLS survey aggregates both union and non-union wages together, so the numbers on this page reflect the broad workforce, not any specific agreement.

The BLS OEWS figures are employer-reported wages for wage and salary workers. They don't capture what self-employed plumbers running their own businesses earn on total revenue, nor do they include the value of employer-paid benefits like health insurance or retirement contributions. Your total compensation picture is likely worth more than the base wage alone.