BLS OEWS May 2025 (annual), pulled live from the BLS API Aug 28, 2026.
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Read the amber rows as leads, not answers.
Newest check Aug 28, 2026 · Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025 ↗, Glassdoor ↗, Indeed ↗, Salary.com ↗ +2 more
Re-checked every 6 h · full re-verify quarterly · Changes ↓
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | Mean | Employment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | $39,920 | — | $61,300 | $75,680 | $85,680 | $63,860 | 10,980 |
| Texas (statewide) | — | — | $59,840 | — | — | — | — |
| United States | $44,150 | — | $63,800 | $85,110 | $108,420 | $72,170 | 465,840 |
Listings go live when our crawl does.
We are building the employer-career-page crawl for plumbing jobs in Houston: credential-tagged (EPA 608, journeyman, CDL), employer-stated pay only, removed within 14 days of closing. Until it runs, no listings are shown here. Take the alert and you get the first email the moment they post.
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Employer-stated posting pay appears here once the listings crawl is live. The BLS figures above are the survey of record either way.
| Source | Figure | Annualized | vs BLS median | Basis | Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLS OEWS May 2025 our anchor | $29.47/hr | $61,300 | — | 10,980 employed, survey of employers | Aug 28, 2026 |
| Glassdoor ↗ | $80,833 | $80,833 | +32% | user submissions | Aug 28, 2026 |
| Indeed ↗ | $30.79/hr | $64,043 | +4% | 187 postings | Aug 17, 2026 |
| Salary.com ↗ | $64,564 | $64,564 | +5% | proprietary HR model | Aug 28, 2026 |
| Talent.com ↗ | $67,226 | $67,226 | +10% | submissions/postings | Aug 28, 2026 |
| ZipRecruiter ↗ | $60,369 | $60,369 | -2% | posting-derived | Aug 28, 2026 |
Plumbing shops typically bill $90–$180/hr (The Job Numbers hourly-rate reference range). The median wage here, $29.47/hr, is about 22% of the mid-range billed rate; the gap is labor burden (≈1.3–1.5× base wage), overhead and margin. That gap is the owner rung — see the five-rung ladder, or price a job at The Job Numbers.
$60,320/yr is between the 25th percentile and the median for plumbers in Houston (BLS OEWS May 2025) — -2% vs the metro median.
Percentiles are the survey of record across all experience levels; an apprentice offer landing below p25 is normal, a journeyman offer below the median is not.
License steps in TexasApprenticeship sponsors in HoustonJobs this week
The median is $61,300 per year ($29.47/hr) — BLS OEWS May 2025, the survey of record. The 10th percentile is $39,920 and the 90th is $85,680.
Each site measures something different — Indeed averages pay stated on its postings, Glassdoor averages user submissions, Salary.com runs an HR model — and none of them is the survey of record. The spread on a metro is typically 5–20%; BLS OEWS surveys ~1.1M establishments and is the anchor here, with the posting layer showing what is on offer this month.
Houston pays below the national median of $63,800 (-4%). The Texas statewide median is $59,840.
Plumbing shops typically bill $90–$180/hr (The Job Numbers reference range); the median wage here is $29.47/hr, about 22% of the mid-range billed rate. The rest covers labor burden, overhead and margin — see the owner rung on the ladder page.
420 cells
Loaded BLS OEWS May-2025: 420 cells pulled live from the BLS API (HVAC 49-9021 complete: 15 metros, 8 states, national; electricians 47-2111 for 4 Texas metros) and 0 cells from O*NET's mirror of the same vintage (electricians and plumbers in TX/FL/AZ/NC/GA/CO). Las Vegas and Nashville electrician/plumber cells are pending a registered BLS key.
Permalink #2026-08-28-pay-oews-may-2025Backfilled at launch
Methodology: BLS OEWS is annual (May reference, spring release); the vintage on this page is May 2025. Employer-stated figures are parsed from pay ranges stated in live requisitions in Houston (hourly × 2,080), median of range midpoints, last 90 days. Estimates carry Occupation/estimatedSalary schema and never a listing's baseSalary. Full methodology.