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Licensed plumbers in Essex County, MA, Greater Boston Metro Area: Workforce, Wages & Demand

Licensed supply, credential mix, wages and demand for plumbers in Essex County, MA, from the state register (updated nightly) and BLS.

Essex County, MA carries 2,703 licensed plumbers and a median wage of $96,760/yr ($46.52/hr).

2,703
licensed plumbers
$96,760
median annual wage (BLS OEWS, metro area)
41
construction demand index

How does your Plumber pay compare?

A free report on your market: what the trade pays here, how that ranks nationally, and where your credential sits against the local licensed workforce. This market already pays more than every county within 150 miles. No account needed.

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How the pay compares

This county sits at the 96th percentile nationally for plumbers pay, above the median US county. Average weekly wages across the county's construction trades rose 1.5% year over year (BLS QCEW).

Licensed workforce by level

Apprentice600
Journeyman1,372
Master676

Licensed Plumber contractors near Essex County

Active, licensed firms and master-tier individuals on the MA register.

NameTier
Aaron GagnonMaster
Aaron HansonMaster
Abraham BiloMaster
Adam HolmesMaster
Adam J CrowleyMaster
Aidan AmbroseMaster

Essex County within the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro

Essex County holds 22% of the metro area's 12,468 licensed plumbers (the second-largest plumbers pool among its 5 counties), at 33.4 per 10,000 residents against 27.9 metro-wide; the largest pool is Middlesex County with 4,355.

Who entered and left in the last 12 months

Counted from ATI's nightly diff of the MA 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.

MovementWorkersWhat it means
New licenses issued63People who entered the licensed workforce here.
Licenses lapsed12Expired or not renewed. Retirement, relocation or leaving the trade.
Moved up a credential tier24Apprentice to journeyman, journeyman to master, and so on.
Net change51New licenses minus lapsed. Negative means the licensed base shrank.

Who employs plumbers here

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.

MeasureValueWhat it counts
Employer establishments317Physical business locations in this industry.
Industry employment3,058Everyone on those payrolls, not only licensed trades.
Annual industry payroll$249MTotal wages paid across those establishments (Census CBP, 2023).

How much work is in Essex County

County-wide construction activity, across all trades rather than plumbers specifically. Each figure names its source and the period it covers.

MeasureValueWhat it means for you
New housing units permitted942Last full year, county-wide. 12 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 employment10,455Everyone working in construction in this county, all trades and office staff. Average pay $1,676 per week. BLS QCEW.
Median year homes were built1960Older 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-4,796People who moved in minus people who moved out, from IRS address changes. Arrivals need housing, wiring, plumbing and heat.

Density and pipeline

33.4 licensed plumbers per 10,000 residents; 204 licensed holders per 100 estimated workers in the trade; 0.4 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.

Common questions

How many licensed plumbers are in Essex County, MA?
Essex County has 2,703 licensed plumbers on the MA register.
What do plumbers earn in Essex County?
The median annual wage for this occupation in this market is $96,760 ($46.52/hour), per BLS OEWS.
Is this a job board?
No. This page is ATI's own licensed-workforce and market data for this county and trade. Job listings above, where present, are an additive real-time layer, not the page's core content.
Is this page for Boston specifically?
This page covers all of Essex County, MA, which is part of the Greater Boston metro area (the Census-defined metro this county belongs to), so it includes but is not limited to Boston proper.

License register: 2026-10-05; Wages: 2025-05-31; Demand: 2026-10-05; Apprenticeship: 2025-12-31.

Related pages

County
Essex County, MA skilled trades market
Electrician
Electricians in Essex County, MA
Sheet Metal Worker
Sheet Metal Workers in Essex County, MA
Market
Massachusetts licensed trades supply
Statewide
How many plumbers in Massachusetts
This number changes tonight.

This page is a free snapshot of plumbers in Essex County, MA. 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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