Licensed supply, wages, demand, and real current openings for plumbers in Buncombe County, NC, from the state register (updated nightly), BLS, and live job listings.
Buncombe County, NC carries 153 licensed plumbers and a median wage of $59,200/yr ($28.46/hr).
A free report on your market: what the trade pays here, where your credential sits against the local licensed workforce, and the nearby counties that pay more, with the difference and the distance. No account needed.
This county sits at the 31st percentile nationally for plumbers pay, below the median US county. Average weekly wages across the county's construction trades fell 12.8% year over year (BLS QCEW).
Counties within 150 miles whose published median for this occupation is higher than Buncombe County's. Medians from the same BLS OEWS series shown above, not offers, and pay is only one reason to move.
| County | Median | Difference | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harlan County, KY | $64,160 | +$4,960 | 95 mi |
| Bell County, KY | $64,160 | +$4,960 | 100 mi |
| Letcher County, KY | $64,160 | +$4,960 | 106 mi |
| Leslie County, KY | $64,160 | +$4,960 | 113 mi |
| Knox County, KY | $64,160 | +$4,960 | 115 mi |
Real, current plumbers openings, 10 in Buncombe County itself. Jobs by Adzuna.
Active, licensed firms and master-tier individuals on the NC register.
| Name | Tier |
|---|---|
| A & B Plumbing Service | Contractor |
| A. C. Williams Plbg. & Htg., Inc. | Contractor |
| Aim Plumbing | Contractor |
| Allen H. Bradley | Contractor |
| Autry Plumbing, LLC | Contractor |
| Blake E. Joslin | Contractor |
| Blossman Gas Of North Carolina, Inc. | Contractor |
| Blue Planet Plumbing And Air (dba) | Contractor |
| Bolton Construction And Service Of Wnc, Inc. | Contractor |
| Burton Thomas Pressley | Contractor |
Buncombe County holds 57% of the metro area's 267 licensed plumbers (the largest plumbers pool among its 3 counties), at 5.5 per 10,000 residents against 6.4 metro-wide.
Counted from ATI's nightly diff of the NC register itself, over the trailing year. Runs that failed a data-quality gate are excluded, so a scraper outage is never reported as workers leaving.
| Movement | Workers | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| New licenses issued | 4 | People who entered the licensed workforce here. |
| Licenses lapsed | 6 | Expired or not renewed. Retirement, relocation or leaving the trade. |
| Moved up a credential tier | 0 | Apprentice to journeyman, journeyman to master, and so on. |
| Net change | -2 | New licenses minus lapsed. Negative means the licensed base shrank. |
Employment from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for the industry this trade sits in; payroll from the Census County Business Patterns. Establishment counts are QCEW where the county is disclosed and an ATI estimate otherwise.
| Measure | Value | What it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Employer establishments | 142 | Physical business locations in this industry. |
| Industry employment | 1,184 | Everyone on those payrolls, not only licensed trades. |
| Annual industry payroll | $67M | Total wages paid across those establishments (Census CBP, 2023). |
County-wide construction activity, across all trades rather than plumbers specifically. Each figure names its source and the period it covers.
| Measure | Value | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| New housing units permitted | 2,028 | Last full year, county-wide. 74 per 10,000 residents. Permits lead construction hiring by months, so this is the earliest honest signal of work arriving (Census Building Permits Survey). |
| Construction employment | 4,302 | Everyone working in construction in this county, all trades and office staff. Average pay $1,096 per week. BLS QCEW. |
| Median year homes were built | 1991 | Older stock means more repair, replacement and retrofit work, which is steadier than new build and does not stop in a downturn (Census ACS). |
| Net migration | +2,534 | People who moved in minus people who moved out, from IRS address changes. Arrivals need housing, wiring, plumbing and heat. |
5.3 licensed plumbers per 10,000 residents; 41 licensed holders per 100 estimated workers in the trade; 0.0 apprentices per 10,000 residents. A thin pipeline against an ageing licensed base is how a shortage forms years before it shows up in wages.
License register: 2026-10-05; Wages: 2025-05-31; Demand: 2026-10-05; Apprenticeship: 2025-12-31.
This page is a free snapshot of plumbers in Buncombe County, NC. Track the same market every night and see which contractors just got licensed, added a trade, or dropped off, and pull the full record, with contact details where available, on any of them. Get the weekly intelligence email on the markets you follow. ATI is in private beta; apply for access.
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