How many plumbers are there in the US? 465,840, and 1.6 lawyers for each one

There were 465,840 plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters on US payrolls in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. The same survey counts 754,500 lawyers. The country employs 288,660 more lawyers than plumbers, 1.6 lawyers for each plumber.

BLS does not split plumbers from pipefitters and steamfitters; the three share one occupation code, 47-2152. OEWS counts wage and salary jobs, so a plumber who owns a one-person business and draws no salary is not in the count. Another 44,330 people work as helpers to plumbers and pipefitters, a separate code that is not in the 465,840.

Next to other trades

The US has 1.6 electricians for every plumber, but plumbers earn the higher median wage of the two, $63,800 against $63,190. The bottom tenth of plumbers earns $44,150 a year or less and the top tenth $108,420 or more. Nationally there are 3.0 plumbers per 1,000 jobs.

By state

Louisiana has the most plumbers and pipefitters for its size, 4.3 per 1,000 jobs, which fits a state with a large refinery and petrochemical industry where pipefitters work. Georgia has the fewest of any state, 1.8.

The median plumber in Illinois earns $99,950, the highest of any state, ahead of Oregon at $97,050, Minnesota at $94,410 and Alaska at $93,920. Only Washington DC is higher, at $101,020. In Arkansas the median is $48,660. A Texas plumber's median, $59,840, is $40,110 below the Illinois one.

Where plumbers outnumber lawyers

Plumbers outnumber lawyers in 18 states and Guam, 19 of the 54 areas OEWS reports. Iowa has 1.6 plumbers per lawyer (5,730 against 3,550), North Dakota 1.5, South Dakota and Wyoming 1.3. Indiana has 11,280 plumbers and 8,970 lawyers.

In the big legal markets the gap is wide. New York has 23,210 plumbers and 91,870 lawyers, four lawyers for every plumber. Washington DC employs 33,070 lawyers and 1,010 plumbers, 33 lawyers per plumber.

Plumbers per contractor licence in California

California's Contractors State License Board publishes its roll by classification. 17,433 licences with the C-36 plumbing classification had status Clear in September 2026, against 47,660 employed plumbers in the state: 2.7 plumbers per licence.

Most of those licences belong to small firms. 7,934 (46%) are held by sole owners, 8,366 by corporations and 927 by LLCs. 11,126 (64%) carry only the C-36 class; the rest are combined with a general building licence or another specialty. Los Angeles County has 4,597 of them.

1,063 of the clear licences were first issued in 2025, against 398 issued in 2015. Part of that gap is attrition, since licences from 2015 have had ten years to lapse, so the yearly figures show how many survive, not how many were issued.

How we counted

National and state counts are BLS OEWS May 2025, cross-industry, SOC 47-2152 Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters, read from the national and state files BLS publishes (national_M2025_dl.xlsx and state_M2025_dl.xlsx). The state rows sum to 467,130 because they include the territories and are estimated separately from the national figure. Lawyers are SOC 23-1011. The California figures count licences with a C36 classification and status Clear on the Contractors State License Board list by classification, downloaded in September 2026. We hold no national roll of individual plumber licences: journeyman and master plumber licences are issued by states and some cities, and few publish the file.

Source: ProfessionLens, November 2026.