Plumber Salary in Oregon 2026,
$97,050 Median | BLS Data by City

The published Oregon median is $97,050 a year, or $46.66 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 52.1% above the national median of $63,800. The middle half falls between $74,920 and $126,400 and the full band runs $58,230 to $147,100. Note that the wage row covers plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters together, so a residential plumber should be reading the lower half rather than the median.

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro at $101,010, ahead of Bend $92,330, Eugene-Springfield $84,910, Albany $84,620 and Salem $80,610. About twenty thousand dollars separates the table, which is real but modest against a band nearly ninety thousand dollars wide — sector and licence tier are what dominate here.

Through the Building Codes Division at the Department of Consumer and Business Services. Oregon registers apprentices, then licenses journeymen and plumbing contractors on documented apprenticeship hours and examination, with separate contractor registration for those who bid work. The licence is statewide, so a journeyman qualified in Medford can work in Portland without re-credentialing.

Because it contains three trades rather than one. SOC 47-2152 counts plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters together, and industrial pipefitting and steamfitting — process piping in semiconductor and manufacturing facilities, power and mechanical work — pay considerably above residential plumbing and often carry stronger union coverage. The $58,230 tenth percentile and the $147,100 ninetieth are not really two ends of one career; they are largely different trades in the same row.

It is the most direct one, and Oregon has genuine demand for it. Semiconductor and advanced manufacturing facilities in Washington County require process piping work with its own qualification requirements, and steamfitting and industrial mechanical work carry rates residential plumbing does not. That is largely what the $126,400 seventy-fifth percentile and $147,100 ninetieth describe, alongside foreman responsibility and contractor licensure.

It makes the median a poor description of any single job. A residential service plumber in Salem and a steamfitter on a semiconductor facility in Hillsboro are both in SOC 47-2152, and they are not doing similar work at similar money. The honest reading is that the lower half of the band — $58,230 to $74,920 — is broadly residential and light commercial plumbing, while the upper half reflects commercial plumbing, industrial pipefitting and steamfitting. Anyone benchmarking a plumbing wage against $97,050 should first establish which of those they are actually doing, because the answer moves the appropriate reference by tens of thousands of dollars.

Beyond the code breadth, it reports wages as paid, so the overtime typical of construction and shutdown schedules is inside the number. It counts employees, leaving self-employed plumbers and small contractors outside the survey — a real omission in a trade with a large service and owner-operator segment. And it must be read against Oregon's tax position, which at these income levels is among the heaviest in the country once Portland-area local income taxes are included.

Trade and sector first: industrial pipefitting and steamfitting above residential and light commercial plumbing, which is most of the band's width. Licence tier second, since the Building Codes Division runs apprentice, journeyman and contractor credentials statewide and each is examined. Process piping and specialty qualifications third, given Oregon's semiconductor and advanced manufacturing base. Foreman responsibility and contractor licensure fourth, which is what the $147,100 ninetieth percentile describes. Location contributes about twenty thousand dollars, pointing to Portland.