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What This Work Costs, and Why Nobody Will Quote You Online
Most pages listing plumbing prices cite nothing at all. This one shows where the labor number comes from, and is honest about what it does not tell you.
Free to homeowners in What This Work Costs, and Why Nobody Will Qu — the contractor pays us for the introduction, you never do.
The short answer
An honest single price for this work does not exist, because access, depth and what sits above the pipe change the same repair completely. What can be shown instead is the wage figure underneath most of a plumbing bill: the federal survey puts the median at $29.59 an hour across 436,160 workers.
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, occupation 47-2152.
What this site is
PressureTrace is a referral service, not a plumbing contractor. We connect homeowners with independent contractors. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands. Every state page sets out who licenses plumbers there and where to check, so you can confirm before work begins. We do not perform plumbing work, we do not set prices, and we never charge homeowners anything — the contractors in our network pay us when we route them a call.We do not set prices and we cannot quote you. What we can do is show the one number that drives most of a plumbing bill, and where it comes from.
What plumbers actually earn
The federal government surveys this. For occupation 47-2152 — plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters — across 436,160 workers:
| Percentile | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $18.60 | $38,690 |
| 25th | $22.99 | $47,810 |
| Median | $29.59 | $61,550 |
| 75th | $38.56 | $80,190 |
| 90th | $49.59 | $103,140 |
Wage percentiles: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, occupation 47-2152 (Plumbers, Pipefitters and Steamfitters), May 2023 release. BLS has since published a May 2025 release; these figures will be updated to it.
The mistake almost every cost page makes
A wage is not a bill rate. A plumber earning the median $29.59 an hour is not charging you $29.59 an hour, and anyone implying otherwise is misleading you. The rate you are quoted has to carry the van, the fuel, the tools, insurance, licensing, unbillable travel, the office, warranty work, and profit. The multiple between wage and shop rate is real and it is large.
So use these figures for what they are good for: comparing one area against another. Where wages run high, bills run high, and that is why the same job costs visibly more in San Jose than in a small Midwest town.
Where the highest-wage metros are
| Metro area | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|
| San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara, CA | $99,570 |
| New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ–PA | $93,650 |
| Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL–IN–WI | $92,060 |
| San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA | $90,790 |
| Boston–Cambridge–Nashua, MA–NH | $90,580 |
How to spend less without gambling
The reliable saving is not hunting for the lowest number. It is knowing what the job is before anyone quotes it, because the same complaint covers wildly different work.
- A blocked aerator costs nothing and takes five minutes. Paying for a visit to do it is money thrown away.
- A part-closed valve also costs nothing.
- A PRV adjustment is a small job. A replacement is a bigger one.
- Repiping a galvanized supply is a project.
Those sit orders of magnitude apart. Take a gauge reading first and you will know which conversation you are having.
Still not sure whether it is the whole house or one fixture?That distinction decides who you need and what it costs, and it takes one conversation. We route you to a contractor who covers your ZIP code, you are never charged, and if the answer turns out to be an aerator we will say so. And it need not be pressure — this number takes any plumbing problem.
Call (866) 838-2750