How are Indiana Plumber salaries calculated on this page?

Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.

How many Plumbers does Indiana employ?

BLS OES counts 11,620 Plumbers employed in Indiana in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.

Is Indiana a 'real-wage arbitrage' state for Plumbers?

Yes — the BEA RPP of 92.1 is below the national 100 baseline, so nominal $64,560 stretches to a real-wage equivalent of $70,100. The take-home advantage versus a higher-RPP state is meaningful for Plumbers comparing offers across regions.

What are the limits of these Plumber salary numbers?

BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

Service plumber vs new construction plumber in Indiana — pay difference?

BLS aggregates plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (47-2152) into one category. In Indiana, residential service plumbers (drain cleaning, water heater replacement, repair calls) earn near or below BLS median; commission-based service models in Indiana can produce above-median earnings for high-volume techs but with substantial variance. New-construction plumbing in Indiana pays above median for pipefitter and steamfitter specialties on industrial and commercial projects, especially when union-rate prevailing-wage rules apply on government work.

How long is the Indiana plumbing apprenticeship and what's the master plumber payback?

Indiana typically requires 4-5 years (8,000-10,000 hours) of supervised on-the-job training plus 144+ classroom hours per year before the journeyman plumber exam. Master plumber licensure in Indiana requires an additional 2-5 years post-journeyman plus a separate exam, and unlocks business ownership, permit-pulling authority, and significantly higher compensation — owner-operator master plumbers in Indiana routinely earn 1.5-3× the BLS journeyman median once business profit is included. Apprenticeship pay starts at 40-60% of journeyman scale and ratchets up annually.

Indiana Plumber Salary: BLS $65K Median, Real $70K (2026)

TL;DR

Headline Plumber pay in Indiana is $64,560. Real take-home, after the state's cost-of-living index, lands at $70,100.
Below-100 RPP flips this state above its nominal rank in real-wage terms; the gap is about $5,540.
P25-P75 spread runs $49,500 to $89,180; P10 floor $44,390, P90 ceiling $97,900.
State ranks #19 nationally on nominal wage, #17 on real (RPP-adjusted) wage.

Wage breakdown — Indiana

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$44,390	$48,199
P25 (lower quartile)	$49,500	$53,748
P50 (median)	$64,560	$70,100
P75 (upper quartile)	$89,180	$96,833
P90 (top tier)	$97,900	$106,301
Mean	$69,500	$75,464
Employment	11,620 Plumbers in Indiana

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	Indiana index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	92.1
Goods	95.6
Services	84.7
Rents	71.3

Indiana sits below the national baseline (RPP 92.1), so nominal pay translates to a higher real wage than the BLS median suggests — particularly visible in rents at 71.3.

After-tax take-home — Indiana (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (Plumber)	$64,560	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$5,609	8.7% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	−$1,872	2.9% flat 2026 (+ ~1% county avg)
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$4,939	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$52,140	80.8% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$56,614	÷ (92.1 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the Indiana state-tax burden means for Plumber take-home

Mid-band state-tax burden at 2.9% effective. Combined with federal and FICA, take-home is $52,140 (80.8% of gross). After the 92.1 RPP, real take-home is $56,614. Local-tax overlay: Every Indiana county levies a local income tax averaging 1–3% — Marion (Indianapolis) 2.02%, Lake 1.5%, Allen 1.59%.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $62,970 for Plumbers with mean pay of $69,940 and total employment of 455,940. Indiana sits at #19 on nominal pay and #17 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Indiana climbs 2 positions — the cost of living is favorable relative to the wage.

Frequently asked questions

How are Indiana Plumber salaries calculated on this page?: Nominal wages come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES) — annual employer surveys, May 2026 reference period. Real-wage figures use BEA Regional Price Parities (2023 vintage) to adjust for state-level cost of living. No self-report or jobs-board data is mixed in.
How many Plumbers does Indiana employ?: BLS OES counts 11,620 Plumbers employed in Indiana in the most recent release. Employment density relative to population determines whether wage tiers reflect a robust competitive market or a thinner labor pool.
Is Indiana a 'real-wage arbitrage' state for Plumbers?: Yes — the BEA RPP of 92.1 is below the national 100 baseline, so nominal $64,560 stretches to a real-wage equivalent of $70,100. The take-home advantage versus a higher-RPP state is meaningful for Plumbers comparing offers across regions.
What are the limits of these Plumber salary numbers?: BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.
Service plumber vs new construction plumber in Indiana — pay difference?: BLS aggregates plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (47-2152) into one category. In Indiana, residential service plumbers (drain cleaning, water heater replacement, repair calls) earn near or below BLS median; commission-based service models in Indiana can produce above-median earnings for high-volume techs but with substantial variance. New-construction plumbing in Indiana pays above median for pipefitter and steamfitter specialties on industrial and commercial projects, especially when union-rate prevailing-wage rules apply on government work.
How long is the Indiana plumbing apprenticeship and what's the master plumber payback?: Indiana typically requires 4-5 years (8,000-10,000 hours) of supervised on-the-job training plus 144+ classroom hours per year before the journeyman plumber exam. Master plumber licensure in Indiana requires an additional 2-5 years post-journeyman plus a separate exam, and unlocks business ownership, permit-pulling authority, and significantly higher compensation — owner-operator master plumbers in Indiana routinely earn 1.5-3× the BLS journeyman median once business profit is included. Apprenticeship pay starts at 40-60% of journeyman scale and ratchets up annually.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 47-2152, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-07.

Cross-comparison: see how Indiana Plumber pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.