Prevailing wage rates by state and county
The hourly wage and fringe contractors must pay on public construction, for every county and trade. Look up your county, or see how your state compares.
What is prevailing wage?
The prevailing wage is the least a contractor can pay each trade on a public construction job. On jobs funded with federal money it is called the Davis-Bacon rate. It has two parts: an hourly wage and an hourly fringe amount for benefits. The contractor can put the fringe into benefit plans or add it to the paycheck. The rate is set by county and by type of construction (Building, Residential, Heavy or Highway), and the U.S. Department of Labor publishes it in a document called a wage determination. In most counties the rate is the local union scale. Where it is not, it comes from a Labor Department survey, and some survey rates are years out of date.
Look up the prevailing wage in your county
How the states compare
38 of the 51 states use a union rate for electricians in at least half their counties. The typical union electrician rate, wage and fringe together, runs from $41.24 an hour in Alabama to $103.81 in New Jersey. States with no union rate show a survey rate only. Click a state on the map or in the table for every county and trade.
| State | Counties on a union rate | Typical union rate $/hr | Typical survey rate $/hr | Survey rates 8+ years old |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 100% | $103.81 | — | 0 |
| Hawaii | 100% | $89.71 | — | 0 |
| Washington | 97% | $87.78 | $84.62 | 0 |
| Alaska | 100% | $85.77 | — | 0 |
| Connecticut | 100% | $84.53 | — | 0 |
| Massachusetts | 100% | $84.36 | — | 0 |
| Illinois | 100% | $83.99 | — | 0 |
| Delaware | 100% | $83.43 | — | 0 |
| Pennsylvania | 94% | $82.64 | $45.08 | 4 |
| District of Columbia | 100% | $82.56 | — | 0 |
| Missouri | 98% | $81.86 | $31.86 | 2 |
| Rhode Island | 100% | $80.85 | — | 0 |
| California | 91% | $80.15 | $23.46 | 5 |
| Oregon | 56% | $79.51 | $60.45 | 0 |
| New York | 92% | $76.75 | $60.66 | 1 |
| Wisconsin | 100% | $70.47 | — | 0 |
| Ohio | 84% | $69.93 | $45.51 | 13 |
| Indiana | 97% | $68.36 | $10.58 | 3 |
| West Virginia | 65% | $66.44 | $43.27 | 19 |
| Iowa | 17% | $66.39 | $32.80 | 82 |
| Kansas | 22% | $64.30 | $38.59 | 82 |
| Kentucky | 78% | $63.40 | $42.47 | 26 |
| Michigan | 85% | $63.35 | $28.15 | 11 |
| Colorado | 98% | $61.75 | $35.14 | 1 |
| Maine | 31% | $59.88 | $34.57 | 11 |
| New Hampshire | 70% | $59.04 | $34.70 | 3 |
| Montana | 93% | $58.91 | $36.03 | 4 |
| Utah | 97% | $58.89 | $34.87 | 1 |
| Idaho | 95% | $58.74 | $27.83 | 2 |
| North Dakota | 79% | $57.59 | $34.00 | 11 |
| Virginia | 69% | $55.97 | $31.09 | 41 |
| Oklahoma | 91% | $54.54 | $27.78 | 7 |
| Nebraska | 100% | $53.88 | — | 0 |
| New Mexico | 88% | $53.71 | $33.42 | 2 |
| South Dakota | 73% | $53.15 | $32.33 | 18 |
| Arizona | 93% | $51.34 | $37.35 | 1 |
| Georgia | 77% | $49.20 | $27.04 | 20 |
| Florida | 60% | $47.70 | $19.96 | 27 |
| Tennessee | 40% | $47.70 | $33.77 | 0 |
| Texas | 19% | $47.19 | $22.93 | 204 |
| South Carolina | 67% | $46.79 | $15.86 | 15 |
| North Carolina | 32% | $45.41 | $18.57 | 53 |
| Louisiana | 83% | $43.91 | $30.93 | 11 |
| Arkansas | 45% | $43.89 | $26.95 | 41 |
| Mississippi | 70% | $42.94 | $26.13 | 25 |
| Vermont | 29% | $42.85 | $27.51 | 10 |
| Alabama | 36% | $41.24 | $23.78 | 43 |
| Maryland | 0% | — | $69.45 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 0% | — | $76.74 | 0 |
| Nevada | 0% | — | $83.81 | 0 |
| Wyoming | 0% | — | $49.43 | 0 |
Questions this page answers
What is the Davis-Bacon rate?
The federal prevailing wage. The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 requires it on federal construction contracts over $2,000, and the rates on this site are the Davis-Bacon rates. Many states have their own prevailing wage law for state-funded work, with their own rate schedules; where a state does, the state page says so.
Who gets paid prevailing wage?
Every laborer and mechanic working on the site of a covered federal job, union or not. The rate depends on the work you do that day, not your job title or license. Apprentices in a registered program can be paid a percentage of the journeyman rate.
Does Davis-Bacon apply to my job?
It applies to building, altering or repairing public buildings and public works with federal money when the contract is over $2,000. Related laws extend it to many federally assisted projects such as housing, highways and transit. The contract documents name the wage determination that applies.
What is a wage determination?
The document that lists the rates. The Department of Labor publishes one for each group of counties and type of construction: Building, Residential, Heavy and Highway. Each line gives a trade, a wage and a fringe. Rates with a union code such as ELEC0134-001 come from a union contract; rates marked SU come from a Labor Department survey.
What counts as fringe?
Money the employer pays toward health insurance, pension, vacation and apprenticeship training. A contractor can pay it into those plans or add it to the paycheck as cash. Every total on this site is wage plus fringe.
Why are some rates so low?
Survey rates can stay in force for many years without an update. In some rural counties the required rate is well below what anyone pays today, so the real floor is the market rate. Survey rates are marked with an asterisk in the county tables.
Where do I find the official rate?
On SAM.gov. Every table on this site links to the determination number and revision it came from. This site is a reference, not the official determination; check the current text before you bid or run payroll.
Sources and notes
- SAM.gov Davis-Bacon wage determinations, current revisions as of 2026-11-06, compiled by Skilled Wages. Trade names are simplified from the official classification labels; the official text governs.
- U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division: Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.