Pay by Metro

The same trade, the same licence, the same work — and up to 86% difference in pay depending on which state it is done in.

That is the single most useful fact on this site, and it is not what most people expect. The states at the top of a trade wage table are not simply the expensive ones.

What actually drives the ranking

Union density and prevailing-wage law does most of the work. States with strong trade unions and legal wage floors on publicly funded projects pull the whole state average up, because private employers compete for the same labour. Oregon, Washington and Illinois sit at or near the top of most trade tables for this reason, and Illinois in particular is not an expensive state outside Chicago.

Licensing structure comes second. States with a formal apprenticeship ladder and strict hour requirements have fewer licensed workers per capita, and a tighter supply of licensed labour raises the price of it.

Cost of living and construction demand come third, and they are weaker than people assume. Colorado ranks in the bottom half for several trades despite Denver housing costs well above the national median. Texas ranks low across the board despite enormous construction volume.

The strongest single correlation visible in the data is with right-to-work status: most of the bottom quartile in most trades are right-to-work states.

Reading a state figure honestly

A state average blends very different metros. New York State combines New York City with rural counties. The spread inside a large state can be as wide as the spread between two states.

It also excludes the self-employed, so in states with many small residential contractors the published number describes employees rather than the trade.

A high number is not automatically a better job

Pay is half the question. What the money buys locally is the other half, and the two rankings do not match — which is what the cost-of-living pages here are for.