Carpenter Salary Calculator

1. Choose hourly rate or annual salary, then enter your own pay. Most carpenters are paid by the hour.
2. Enter your regular hours and the weeks you work. Lower the weeks for rain days, winter layoffs or gaps between jobs.
3. Add overtime hours and a multiplier, plus a second offer to compare. Read the pay figures and the BLS percentile.

What each result tells you:

The first preset loads the BLS median rate of $29.12 an hour. At 40 hours and 52 weeks it gives $60,569.60 a year.

A carpenter salary calculator is a pay converter with a wage benchmark built in. It turns one pay figure into hourly, weekly, biweekly, monthly and annual gross pay. Then it shows where that pay sits against national wages for carpenters.

The benchmark is the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation code 47-2031. BLS says carpenters construct, repair and install building frameworks and structures made from wood and other materials. The group covers construction carpenters, rough carpenters who build concrete forms and scaffolds, and wood flooring installers.

Three groups use the tool. Working carpenters check a rate before asking for a raise. Apprentices and helpers see what fully trained pay looks like. Career changers compare a carpentry offer with their current job.

The tool is not a pay prediction. It does not guess your wage from experience, specialty or union status. BLS does not publish national multipliers for those, so the tool does not invent them.

The calculator multiplies your rate by your hours and weeks, adds overtime pay, and then interpolates your rate between BLS wage percentiles.

1. Find the straight-time rate. An hourly rate is used as entered. A salary is divided by regular hours times weeks.
2. Add overtime. Overtime hours are paid at the rate times your multiplier. Federal law sets the floor at time and one-half after 40 hours in a workweek for covered, nonexempt employees. The overtime pay calculator handles more detailed overtime cases.
3. Convert the periods. Weekly pay is annual pay divided by weeks worked. Monthly pay is annual pay divided by 12.
4. Compare with BLS. The straight-time rate is placed between the two nearest BLS points. A rate of $32.00 sits between the median of $29.12 and the 75th percentile of $36.94, so it lands near the 59th percentile.

BLS wages are straight-time pay. They leave out overtime pay, so the percentile uses your base rate, not your overtime-boosted total.

A framing carpenter earns $32.00 an hour. She works 40 regular hours and 5 overtime hours a week at time and one-half. Weather and gaps between jobs cut her year to 48 weeks.

1. Straight-time pay: $32.00 x 40 x 48 = $61,440.00.
2. Overtime pay: $32.00 x 1.5 x 5 x 48 = $11,520.00.
3. Annual gross: $61,440.00 + $11,520.00 = $72,960.00.
4. Weekly gross in a worked week: $1,520.00. Monthly gross: $6,080.00.
5. Gap to the BLS median: $32.00 - $29.12 = +$2.88 an hour, or +9.9%.

Her rate sits near the 59th percentile. The same rate over a full 52 weeks with no overtime gives $66,560.00. Overtime adds $11,520.00, while the four lost weeks remove $5,120.00 of straight-time pay.

Carpenters earned a median of $29.12 an hour in May 2025, which equals $60,580 for a 2,080 hour year. The mean wage was $31.55 an hour, or $65,630 a year.

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 47-2031 Carpenters, national estimates. Read on 2026-10-02. BLS did not top-code any of these figures.

The mean is higher than the median because a small group of high earners pulls the average up. The 90th percentile wage is 2.5 times the 10th percentile wage.

Industry

The type of building work changes the median wage. BLS reports $63,780 for nonresidential building construction and $60,600 for residential building construction.

The highest hourly means appear in industries that employ few carpenters, such as film sets and factories.

State

Location moves the wage more than most choices a carpenter can make. Hawaii has the highest state mean at $42.06 an hour. California has the most carpenter jobs.

Weeks Worked

BLS notes that extreme temperatures and bad weather affect construction timelines and carpenter hours. At the median rate, 46 weeks pays $53,580.80 instead of $60,569.60.

Self-Employment

BLS counts 889,700 carpenter jobs in total, and 25 percent of carpenters are self-employed. The wage survey covers only the 670,090 wage and salary jobs. Contractor income is not in the percentiles.

Training Stage

BLS states that starting pay for apprentices is less than what fully trained carpenters make, and that pay rises as apprentices gain experience. BLS gives no apprentice wage figure, so this page gives none.

Carpenters earn a lower median wage than electricians and plumbers, and about the same as HVAC technicians. The carpenter median of $60,580 is $3,220 below the plumber median.

For wider context, BLS reports a median of $58,150 for all construction trades workers and $50,980 for all occupations. The carpenter median is 18.8 percent above the all-occupation figure.

Checking a Job Offer

Enter the offered rate and your real weeks. A rate of $21.00 an hour sits near the 16th percentile, which is useful to know before you accept.

Comparing Hourly Work with a Salaried Role

Lead carpenters and supervisors are sometimes offered a salary. Switch the pay type to annual and read the straight-time hourly rate. A salary of $62,000 equals $29.81 an hour at 40 hours.

Planning a Short Season

Lower the weeks to match last year. The annual figure then shows the income you can plan around, not the full-year ideal.

Weighing Two Offers

Enter one offer as your pay and the other as the second offer. An offer of $66,000 against $62,000 is +6.5% more and moves the rate to about the 58th percentile.

Carpenters typically need a high school diploma or equivalent and learn the trade on the job or through an apprenticeship. BLS adds that all carpenters must pass the OSHA 10-hour safety course.

BLS projects carpenter employment to grow 4 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations. That is 35,000 more jobs, reaching 924,700.

About 62,800 openings are projected each year. Most come from workers who retire or change occupations. New-home building adds jobs, while modular and prefabricated components reduce the need for site carpentry.

Still choosing a path? The trade school vs college calculator compares the cost and payback of each route.

1. Assuming 52 Paid Weeks

Site work stops for weather and between projects. Use the weeks you were paid last year.

2. Comparing Overtime Pay with the BLS Annual Wage

BLS annual wages contain no overtime. Compare your straight-time rate, or the full-time year figure, with the BLS column.

3. Treating Contractor Income as a Wage

A self-employed carpenter covers tools, insurance, a vehicle and self-employment tax out of that income. A day rate is not comparable with an employee wage.

4. Ignoring Tool Costs

BLS notes that many employers require carpenters to supply their own tools. Tool allowances are not part of BLS wages either.

5. Using a National Figure for a Local Decision

The percentile is national. State means range widely, so check the BLS state table before judging a local offer.

6. Reading the Percentile as Exact

The tool draws a straight line between two published points. Real wages do not follow a straight line.

The pay arithmetic is exact for the inputs you give, and the benchmark is a national survey estimate with sampling error. BLS lists a relative standard error of 0.4 percent for the carpenter mean wage.

Carpenters earned a median of $29.12 an hour in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $19.43 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $48.03.

The mean annual wage for carpenters was $65,630 in May 2025, and the median was $60,580. BLS builds both figures from hourly wages times 2,080 hours, so they assume full-time, year-round work.

Hawaii pays carpenters the highest state mean wage at $42.06 an hour. Alaska, Illinois, Massachusetts and Washington follow, each with a mean above $38.00 an hour in the BLS May 2025 data.

Most hourly carpenters who are covered, nonexempt employees must receive at least time and one-half after 40 hours in a workweek under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Self-employed carpenters set their own prices and have no overtime rate. State law or a contract can set higher rates.

Apprentice carpenters earn less than fully trained carpenters, and their pay rises as they gain experience. BLS states this but publishes no national apprentice wage, so this calculator does not show one. Ask the apprenticeship sponsor for its wage schedule.

Thirty dollars an hour is slightly above the national median of $29.12 for carpenters. It sits near the 53rd percentile and pays $62,400.00 over a 2,080 hour year.

BLS publishes five wage points: the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentiles. The calculator draws a straight line between the two points around your rate. The true wage curve bends, so the result can be off by a few points.

No. The BLS wage survey covers only wage and salary employees. About 25 percent of carpenters are self-employed, and their income is not in these percentiles. Use the tool for employee pay.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook counts 889,700 carpenter jobs because it includes self-employed workers. The wage survey counts 670,090 because it covers employees only.

No. It shows gross pay before tax, benefits and other deductions. Tax depends on your state, filing status and deductions, so the tool leaves it out.

• BLS OEWS Profiles, May 2025 (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Choose May 2025 and select 47-2031 Carpenters for the national wage percentiles, mean wage, employment, and industry and state tables. Read 2026-10-02.
• BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Carpenters (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Duties, entry education, training, median pay by industry and the 2025 to 2035 outlook. Read 2026-10-02.
• BLS OEWS frequently asked questions (US Bureau of Labor Statistics). Defines wages as straight-time gross pay without overtime, the 2,080 hour year and who the survey covers. Read 2026-10-02.
• Overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division). Time and one-half the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek for covered, nonexempt employees. Read 2026-10-02.