Plumber vs Electrician: Pay, Job Openings, Training and Safety Compared

Plumber vs electrician pay is nearly a tie: BLS puts the May 2025 median at $63,800 for plumbers and $63,190 for electricians, but electricians hold 61% more jobs and get about 73% more openings a year.

Who earns more, a plumber or an electrician?

Neither trade has a real pay edge at the middle. BLS reports a May 2025 median wage of $63,800 a year ($30.67 an hour) for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters and $63,190 ($30.38 an hour) for electricians. The bottom 10% earn under $44,150 and $42,640, and the top 10% earn over $108,420 and $108,510. The pay story sits in industry and location, not trade.

Where you work moves the number more than which trade you pick. In government jobs, BLS lists a median of $79,820 for electricians and $71,660 for plumbers. In manufacturing, electricians earn $74,550 against $65,770. At contractors, where about two thirds of both trades work, plumbers come out ahead at $63,010 against $61,570 for electrical contractors.

The ranges also hide the gap between a wage and a business. A plumber who owns a shop earns from margin, not from an hourly rate, which is why the hourly rates customers pay a shop run well above any wage figure. For the full progression from apprentice to master, see our breakdown of how much plumbers make at each career stage.

State matters as much as industry. Wages for both trades vary widely between low-cost and high-cost states, so compare offers using plumber salary by state before you read too much into a national median.

How does plumber vs electrician demand compare on jobs and openings?

Electricians are the bigger and faster-growing trade. BLS counted 821,000 electrician jobs in 2025 against 510,600 for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, about 61% more. It projects 9% electrician growth from 2025 to 2035 (75,900 new jobs) and 7% for the plumbing occupation (34,500 new jobs). Annual openings run about 72,700 for electricians and 42,000 for plumbing.

Most of those openings are replacements. BLS builds annual openings from workers who retire, leave the labor force or switch occupations, plus new jobs.

The demand drivers differ. BLS ties electrician demand to linking solar and wind generation to homes, businesses and the grid, and to data centers built for AI workloads. It ties plumber demand to new construction plus the steady need to maintain and repair plumbing in existing buildings, and it expects sprinklerfitter jobs to rise because building codes in every state require fire suppression systems.

More openings do not mean an easier start. Openings scale with the size of the workforce, so the bigger trade naturally posts more of them. Per 1,000 existing jobs, the rates are close: about 89 for electricians and 82 for plumbers, by our math on the BLS figures.

How long does training take for a plumber vs an electrician?

The time commitment is the same on paper. BLS says both plumbers and electricians typically enter through a 4 or 5 year apprenticeship, with about 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training each year plus technical instruction. That works out to roughly 8,000 to 10,000 paid hours before journeyman status. Both start with a high school diploma or equivalent.

The classroom content is where the trades split. Electrical apprentices spend more time on electrical theory, math, blueprint reading and the National Electrical Code. Plumbing apprentices study the plumbing code, drainage and venting, water supply sizing and gas piping, and spend more of the day on physical installation.

Apprentices in both trades earn while they learn, usually starting at a fraction of journeyman pay and rising each year. The path into a program looks similar too: union joint apprenticeship committees, open-shop contractor associations and direct hire by a licensed contractor. Our guide on how to get a plumbing apprenticeship covers applications, aptitude tests and union versus non-union programs on the plumbing side.

1. Finish high school or a GED, with algebra if you can.
2. Apply to a registered apprenticeship or get hired as a helper by a licensed contractor.
3. Log about 2,000 paid hours a year for 4 or 5 years, plus classroom hours.
4. Pass your state or local journeyman exam where one is required.
5. Add years of experience and a further exam if you want a master or contractor license.

What licensing does each trade require?

Both trades are licensed in most of the US, and the structure is close. BLS says most states and some localities require plumbers to be licensed, often after 2 to 5 years of experience and an exam. It says most states require electricians to pass a test, built around the National Electrical Code and state and local codes, and many require continuing education to renew.

Plumbing exams usually test the Uniform Plumbing Code or International Plumbing Code, depending on which one your state or city adopted, plus local amendments. Electrical licenses often run apprentice, journeyman and master tiers, and BLS notes renewal courses tend to cover safety practices, code changes and manufacturer training.

The licenses do not transfer between trades. A plumbing license does not let you wire a circuit, and an electrical license does not let you run a drain or a gas line. Some states allow narrow overlap on equipment a contractor installs, such as the final connection on a water heater, but the rules vary, so check your state board.

Which is more dangerous, plumbing or electrical work?

Electrical work carries the higher fatality rate. BLS hours-based CFOI data for 2022, charted by CPWR, show 8.1 deaths per 100,000 full-time workers for electricians and 5.6 for pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters. The rate for all workers was 3.7. Both trades are far safer than roofing (57.5) and below construction and extraction jobs as a group (13.0).

The day-to-day hazards differ more than the death rates suggest. BLS lists shocks, falls and burns as common electrician injuries and warns that accidents can be fatal. For plumbers it lists cuts from sharp tools, burns from hot pipes and soldering, and falls from ladders.

Treat these rates as a direction, not a fixed ranking. Occupation-level fatality counts are small, so one bad year can move a rate, and the CFOI fatal rate for the plumbing group (the BLS chart combines pipelayers with plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters) is not a pure plumber figure. In 2024, BLS counted 5,070 fatal work injuries nationwide and an overall rate of 3.3 per 100,000.

What are the work conditions for a plumber vs an electrician?

Both trades are mostly full time, mostly contractor-employed and often on call. BLS says most plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters work full time, including nights and weekends, and almost all electricians work full time with possible evening and weekend hours. About 65% of plumbers work for plumbing and HVAC contractors and about 66% of electricians work for electrical contractors.

The physical load is different. Plumbing work means crawlspaces, trenches, heavy cast iron and lifting water heaters, and repair calls often come at night because water does not wait. Electrical work involves more ladder and lift time, attic runs and troubleshooting live circuits, and BLS notes electricians must tell wires apart by color.

The business path looks alike. BLS counts 8% of plumbers and 7% of electricians as self-employed in 2025, and both trades support a residential service model built on emergency calls, maintenance plans and flat-rate pricing. To see how plumbing stacks up on pay against carpenters, welders and others, read our analysis of plumber pay against other skilled trades.

BLS publishes plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters as a single occupation, so every plumber figure above includes industrial pipe trades.

Plumbing vs HVAC vs electrician: where do pipefitters and HVAC techs fit?

Pipefitters sit inside the plumbing numbers, and HVAC is a separate, slightly lower-paid trade with the fastest projected growth of the three. BLS defines pipefitters and steamfitters as workers who install and maintain pipes carrying chemicals, acids, gases or high-pressure steam, mostly in industrial and commercial settings. HVAC mechanics earned a $61,010 median in May 2025 with 11% projected growth.

The pipefitter vs plumber choice is mostly a choice of setting. Plumbers work on water supply, drainage, venting, fixtures and gas lines in homes and commercial buildings. Pipefitters work in power plants, refineries, factories and large mechanical rooms, often in union shops with welding and rigging in the job. Because BLS lumps them together, it does not publish a separate pipefitter median, so treat any precise pipefitter salary figure with care.

HVAC offers the quickest route in, since BLS lists a postsecondary nondegree award plus long-term on-the-job training rather than a full apprenticeship. The trade-off shows at the top of the scale, where the highest-paid 10% of HVAC techs earn more than $95,210, about $13,000 below the same tier in plumbing and electrical work.

Which trade suits which kind of person?

The data do not crown a winner, so fit comes down to the work you want to do every day. Pay and training time are nearly identical. Electrical work offers a larger job market and more theory, while plumbing offers more hands-on problem solving, a lower fatality rate and slightly higher contractor pay. HVAC trades a faster start for a lower ceiling.

• Plumbing may suit you if you like physical, visible work, do not mind water, sewage or tight spaces, and want to fix things for homeowners on service calls where the problem and the fix are concrete.
• Electrical may suit you if you enjoy math and theory, are comfortable with code-heavy troubleshooting, want exposure to solar, batteries and data centers, and prefer a larger national job pool.
• Pipefitting may suit you if you want industrial or plant work, welding, large projects and union scale, and do not need to be home every night.
• HVAC may suit you if you want to start earning sooner through a shorter certificate program and like mechanical and refrigeration systems.