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Plumber shortage in Alabama: the licensed-supply numbers

Everyone quotes the shortage. Here is the count Alabama actually has, by skill level and per resident, updated every night.

As of October 4, 2026, Alabama carries 8,008 licensed plumbers on its state register, or 156.8 per 100,000 residents.

8,008
licensed plumbers
156.8
per 100k residents
#22
density rank of 32

Alabama does not issue a separate apprentice license for this trade, so no pipeline ratio is published here. The tier counts below are what the register itself records.

What level they hold

Every plumber license on the Alabama register, normalized to one ladder.

TierLicensedShare
Journeyman3,59545%
Master4,41355%

How this compares to nearby states

States nearest Alabama on licensed plumbers per capita.

StateLicensed plumbersPer 100k
Alabama8,008156.8
Rhode Island1,912174.5
Montana1,900167.7
Utah5,656165.5
Oklahoma6,341156.4
Oregon6,584155.5
Kentucky6,313139.5
Counts, not a capacity opinion. We publish the licensed supply and the pipeline ratio; whether a market can absorb a given project is a judgment for the reader, not a claim we make.

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Common questions

Is there a plumbers shortage in Alabama?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. Alabama carries 8,008 licensed plumbers on its register as of October 4, 2026, or 156.8 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed plumbers does Alabama have?
8,008 on the state register as of October 4, 2026, including 4,413 at master level.
Where does the shortage narrative come from?
Industry analyses project national shortfalls of hundreds of thousands of skilled-trades workers against data-center and electrification demand. Those are demand-side estimates; the figure here is the licensed supply on the register today.

Related pages

Count
How many plumbers in Alabama
Market
Alabama licensed trades supply
Corridor
Electricians and the data-center buildout
This number changes tonight.

This page is a free snapshot of Alabama. 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.

From the Index: Alabama

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