Plumber Salary in Ohio 2026,
$63,330 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $63,330 a year, or $30.45 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 0.7% below the national median of $63,800. The band runs $45,470 at the 10th percentile to $101,410 at the 90th, and the upper half is much wider than the lower: the 75th percentile of $84,260 sits twenty-one thousand dollars above the median.

Toledo at $66,920, then Sandusky $65,780, Cincinnati $65,160, Akron $63,450 and Columbus $63,260. Under four thousand dollars covers the whole table, so location is close to irrelevant in this trade in Ohio — what the top rows share is industrial rather than residential work.

Only contractors, and only for commercial work. The Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board within the Department of Commerce issues plumbing contractor licences, requiring documented trade experience, an examination and insurance. Journeyman and residential plumbing licensing is handled by individual municipalities, so the requirements, examinations and reciprocity arrangements differ between Ohio cities. A plumber relocating within Ohio should check the local licensing position rather than assume a state credential travels.

Because the occupational code includes pipefitting and steamfitting, and Ohio has a substantial industrial base that buys them. Chemical plants, food processing, power generation and manufacturing facilities all require process piping installation and maintenance, much of it on scheduled outages at premium rates. That work sits in the $84,260 to $101,410 range while residential plumbing occupies the lower half — two different trades in one estimate.

Industrial process piping and outage work, together with foreman responsibility and a state contractor licence. That combination is what the $84,260 seventy-fifth percentile and $101,410 ninetieth describe. Outage and shutdown work in particular concentrates a large volume of premium hours into short periods, and Ohio's low 2.75% state income tax rate means those hours are not eroded by a high marginal rate — though the municipal tax where the plant sits will apply.

It is a historical arrangement rather than a designed one: municipal plumbing inspection and licensing long predated state-level construction licensing, and when Ohio established the Construction Industry Licensing Board it took jurisdiction over commercial contracting without displacing the municipal journeyman systems already in place. The practical consequences are real. Requirements and examinations for journeyman licensing vary between cities, reciprocity is not universal, and a plumber working across a metropolitan area may need to hold or verify credentials in more than one jurisdiction. It is the single most confusing feature of the trade in this state, and worth resolving before accepting work in an unfamiliar city.

SOC 47-2152 pools plumbers with pipefitters and steamfitters, whose markets, qualifications and pay differ substantially — which is most of why the 75th percentile sits twenty-one thousand dollars above the median while the 25th sits only thirteen thousand below it. The estimate also reports annual wages in a trade where outage and shutdown overtime swings earnings considerably at the same hourly rate. And it does not distinguish licensed from apprentice workers, which in a state with municipally-variable licensing is harder to infer than usual.

Sector first — industrial process piping, outage and shutdown work pays well above residential plumbing, and it is what the entire upper half of this band describes. Municipal licence position second, since journeyman credentials vary by city and holding the right ones widens where you can work. Foreman responsibility third. And the state contractor licence fourth, which permits commercial contracting in a business's own name and is the step from wages to business income.