Plumber Demographics: 3% Women, 30% Hispanic, and Younger Than the Average Worker
The short answer
In 2025, 3.1 percent of the 624,000 employed plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters in the US were women, about 19,000 people, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey. 30.3 percent were Hispanic or Latino, up from 14.2 percent in 2003. The median plumber was 40.2 years old, younger than the median worker in the economy (42.1), and the share of plumbers under 25 has doubled since 2011.
Who plumbers are: the 2025 profile
| Measure, 2025 | Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters | All employed people | Construction and extraction occupations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employed | 624,000 | 163.5 million | 8.49 million |
| Women | 3.1% (90% range 1.8 to 4.4) | 47.1% | 4.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 30.3% (90% range 28.1 to 32.5) | 20.0% | 41.7% |
| Black or African American | 7.1% | 12.7% | 7.0% |
| Asian | 2.8% | 7.5% | 1.8% |
| White | 86.5% | 75.7% | 86.6% |
| Median age | 40.2 | 42.1 | 41.0 |
| Age 55 and over | 18.4% | 23.2% | 19.9% |
| Under 25 | 13.6% | 12.2% | 13.2% |
Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey 2025 annual averages, tables 11 and 11b. Race groups do not sum to 100 percent because not all races are shown; Hispanic or Latino people may be of any race. The 90 percent ranges are calculated by The Plumbing Brief from BLS standard error parameters (see methodology). BLS notes that 2025 averages cover 11 months because October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown.
Women: about 3 in 100, and slowly rising
The Current Population Survey is a sample survey of households, so a group as small as women plumbers is measured with wide error bars. BLS’s own variance parameters put the 2025 figure of 3.1 percent somewhere between 1.8 and 4.4 percent at 90 percent confidence, which is why single-year figures jump around. Averaging years gives a steadier picture.
| Period | Women, average of annual shares | Hispanic or Latino, average of annual shares | Occupation definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 to 2007 | 1.3% | 18.7% | Includes pipelayers |
| 2008 to 2012 | 1.4% | 20.3% | Includes pipelayers |
| 2013 to 2017 | 1.4% | 23.1% | Includes pipelayers |
| 2018 to 2022 | 2.3% | 26.4% | Mixed: pipelayers included to 2019, excluded from 2020 |
| 2023 to 2025 | 2.8% | 30.4% | Excludes pipelayers |
The 2025 share of 3.1 percent is higher than the 2005 share of 1.2 percent, and the difference passes a 90 percent significance test using BLS’s parameters (z = 2.1). Women’s share among plumbers is in line with other building trades: 3.5 percent of electricians, 3.1 percent of carpenters and 2.7 percent of HVAC mechanics were women in 2025, against 47.1 percent of all workers.
Pay data for women plumbers do not exist at the national level: BLS does not publish median earnings for groups of fewer than 50,000 workers, and about 18,000 women worked full time as wage and salary plumbers in 2025. Across all construction and extraction occupations, where the sample is large enough, women working full time earned a median $977 a week against $1,105 for men, or 88 percent (table 39).
Hispanic workers: the trade’s growth engine
The Hispanic or Latino share of plumbers rose from 14.2 percent in 2003 to 30.3 percent in 2025, peaking at 32.5 percent in 2024, the highest in the published series. Unlike the share of women, this change is far larger than the sampling error (z = 10.4).
Hispanic workers account for more than the trade’s net growth
Formula. Hispanic plumbers = Hispanic share x employed plumbers. Comparison 2003 to 2019, the longest span with a consistent occupation that includes pipelayers.
Calculation. 2003: 14.2% x 595,000 = 84,000. 2019: 27.1% x 637,000 = 173,000. Total employment rose 42,000; Hispanic employment rose 88,000.
Finding. The number of Hispanic plumbers roughly doubled while total employment grew by about 7 percent. On the point estimates, non-Hispanic employment fell from 511,000 to 464,000.
Limitations. The decline in non-Hispanic employment is within the survey’s margin of error for a 16-year change in levels; the rise in Hispanic employment is not.
Plumbing sits between the other trades. The Hispanic share is 43.3 percent among carpenters and 64.7 percent among roofers, but 25.0 percent among electricians and 26.7 percent among HVAC mechanics. Black workers made up 7.1 percent of plumbers in 2025, against 12.7 percent of all workers, and Asian workers 2.8 percent, against 7.5 percent.
Age: the retirement story needs a correction
Plumber shortage coverage often says the workforce is old and heading for retirement. The federal data show a workforce that is younger than average and getting younger. The median plumber was 40.2 in 2025, down from 43.6 in 2016, and 18.4 percent were 55 or older, compared with 23.2 percent of all workers. That gap is statistically significant (z = 2.6).
The clearest change is at the young end. 6.7 percent of plumbers were under 25 in 2011; in 2025 it was 13.6 percent, a change well outside the margin of error (z = 3.5). BLS still expects many openings to come from workers who retire or leave the occupation (Occupational Outlook Handbook), but the share of the trade near retirement age has not grown over the past decade.
| Year | Median age | Under 25 | 55 and over |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 41.4 | 6.7% | 14.1% |
| 2013 | 41.6 | 9.2% | 17.2% |
| 2016 | 43.6 | 8.2% | 22.1% |
| 2019 | 41.0 | 8.9% | 20.4% |
| 2021 | 40.6 | 9.7% | 18.2% |
| 2023 | 40.8 | 14.5% | 20.3% |
| 2024 | 40.1 | 13.2% | 20.4% |
| 2025 | 40.2 | 13.6% | 18.4% |
For openings, wages and apprenticeship figures, see our plumbing workforce report and the apprentice pipeline.
The evidence
- Employed plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, 2025: 624,000. Source: BLS CPS table 11.
- Women’s share: 3.1 percent in 2025; 1.2 percent in 2005; 1.0 percent in 2003. Source: BLS CPS table 11, 2025 and archived editions.
- Hispanic or Latino share: 30.3 percent in 2025; 14.2 percent in 2003. Source: BLS CPS table 11.
- Black share 7.1 percent; Asian 2.8 percent; White 86.5 percent (2025). Source: BLS CPS table 11.
- Median age: 40.2 in 2025 against 42.1 for all workers. Source: BLS CPS table 11b.
- Plumbers aged 55 and over: 18.4 percent (115,000 of 624,000). Under 25: 13.6 percent. Source: calculated from BLS CPS table 11b.
- Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary plumbers: $1,198 (men $1,209; women not published). Source: BLS CPS table 39.
Figures worth quoting
- About 3 percent of US plumbers are women (3.1 percent in 2025, roughly 19,000 people).
- Nearly a third of plumbers are Hispanic or Latino (30.3 percent), more than double the 2003 share.
- The median plumber is 40.2 years old, younger than the median US worker at 42.1.
- 18.4 percent of plumbers are 55 or older, below the 23.2 percent for all workers.
Download the data
Annual employment, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, age and earnings for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, with 90 percent confidence ranges for the women and Hispanic shares. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Attribution: The Plumbing Brief.
Plumber demographics, 2003 to 2025 (CSV)
How this report was built
Methodology
Source. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey (CPS) annual averages: table 11 (employed people by detailed occupation, sex, race and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity), table 11b (by age) and table 39 (median weekly earnings by sex), 2025 editions and archived editions for 2003 to 2024 from the BLS CPS tables archive, retrieved 29 October 2026.
Confidence ranges. Approximate standard errors follow the BLS instructions for calculating CPS standard errors, using the generalized variance parameters in the October 2023 parameter tables: se = f x sqrt((alpha + beta x N) / y x p(100 minus p)), where y is employed plumbers, N the civilian noninstitutional population and f the yearly-average factor. Because detailed occupations have no parameters of their own, BLS guidance on borrowing parameters was applied: table PF-13 (construction and extraction occupations) for the women, Black and age shares and table PF-3 (Hispanic employed) for the Hispanic share. As a check, the resulting 2025 standard error for the women share (0.8 points) is close to the year-to-year spread of the published figures since 2017. Comparisons between years treat the two estimates as independent, which is reasonable for years far enough apart that CPS samples do not overlap.
Derived figures. Age shares, counts of women and Hispanic workers and period averages are calculated by The Plumbing Brief from the published tables.
Retrieval date. 29 October 2026.
Data limitations
- The CPS is a household survey. Occupation, race and ethnicity are reported by respondents, not verified.
- The occupation is defined by the Census occupation code. Until 2019 it included pipelayers; from 2020 pipelayers are a separate occupation (about 46,000 workers in 2025). Earlier definitions changed in 2011. Long-run comparisons span these changes.
- The category combines plumbers with pipefitters and steamfitters, who mostly work on industrial and commercial piping.
- 2025 annual averages exclude October 2025, when data were not collected. BLS says 2025 figures are not strictly comparable with other years.
- Confidence ranges are approximations from generalized variance models, not direct standard errors for this occupation.
- No state-level breakdown is published in these tables.
Source quality ranking
Tier 1. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey annual average tables 11, 11b and 39, 2003 to 2025; BLS CPS standard error parameters and instructions.
Tier 2. None used. Tier 3. None used.
Excluded. Career-site estimates of plumber demographics built from resumes or job-board profiles, which do not publish sampling methods.
Briefing note
Women made up 3.1 percent of US plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters in 2025, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data analysed by The Plumbing Brief, up from about 1 percent in the mid-2000s. Hispanic or Latino workers made up 30.3 percent, more than double the 2003 share. Contrary to the common picture of an ageing trade, the median plumber was 40.2, younger than the median US worker, and the share under 25 has doubled since 2011 to 13.6 percent.
How reporters could frame this
- Plumbers are getting younger, not older
- Only 3 in 100 plumbers are women, and the number is creeping up
- Hispanic workers now make up nearly a third of the plumbing trade
- Why the plumber retirement wave is smaller than advertised
Related questions
What percent of plumbers are women? 3.1 percent in 2025, about 19,000 people, with a 90 percent range of 1.8 to 4.4 percent (BLS Current Population Survey).
What percentage of plumbers are men? About 97 percent (96.9 percent in 2025).
What percentage of plumbers are Hispanic? 30.3 percent in 2025, up from 14.2 percent in 2003.
What is the average age of a plumber? BLS publishes the median: 40.2 years in 2025, against 42.1 for all workers.
What share of plumbers are near retirement? 18.4 percent were 55 or older in 2025, below the 23.2 percent for the whole workforce.
How many women plumbers are there? About 19,000 in 2025, a figure with a wide margin of error because the survey sample is small.
How to cite this report
The Plumbing Brief, “Plumber Demographics: 3% Women, 30% Hispanic, and Younger Than the Average Worker”, https://theplumbingbrief.com/plumber-demographics/, accessed [date].
Last reviewed: 2026-10-29.
