Washington prevailing wage rates

What is the prevailing wage rate in Washington?

It depends on the trade and on the county where the work is done. Taking each trade's main rate in each county, L&I's figures run from $17.13 an hour (building service employee, Adams County) to $149.22 (commercial diver, Chelan County), wages and fringe benefits together. Pick a county or a trade below for the exact rate.

Rates by trade

Each trade page maps that trade's main rate in every county. Carpenters, for example, range from $65.89 to $87.71 an hour.

• Asbestos & Lead Abatement Laborer$57.75–$71.10
• Boilermaker$77.39–$83.89
• Brick Tender$59.86–$75.00
• Bricklayer$63.84–$82.00
• Building Service Employee$17.13–$32.78
• Cabinet Maker (In Shop)$17.13–$40.05
• Carpenter$65.89–$87.71
• Carpet & Soft Floor Layer$63.29–$70.17
• Cement Mason$60.15–$86.18
• Diver & Tender$87.92–$149.22
• Dredger$79.35–$97.45
• Drywall Finisher$66.66–$84.77
• Drywall Installer / Lather$66.66–$84.77
• Electrical Utility Lineman$98.45
• Electrician$72.39–$114.21
• Elevator Constructor$119.17–$119.67
• Fence Builder$54.83–$60.82
• Field Surveyor$17.13–$96.51
• Flagger$54.42–$60.82
• Glazier$28.66–$88.41
• Heating Equipment Mechanic$85.41–$107.92
• Industrial Power Vacuum Cleaner$17.13–$29.89
• Inland Boatman$17.13–$71.28
• Insulation Applicator$65.89–$87.71
• Insulator (Heat & Frost / Asbestos Worker)$68.80–$100.83
• Ironworker$80.70–$94.82
• Laborer$57.75–$71.10
• Landscape & Irrigation Laborer$50.34–$57.49
• Landscape Maintenance Laborer$17.13–$32.83
• Light Fixture Maintenance Worker$17.13–$97.32
• Line Clearance Tree Trimmer$51.98–$62.19
• Marble Mason$63.84–$82.00
• Metal Fabricator (In Shop)$17.13–$43.03
• Millwright$80.28–$88.94
• Modular Building Worker$17.13
• Motor Shop Electrician$17.13–$48.68
• Operating Engineer$68.01–$96.99
• Painter$52.40–$58.84
• Pile Driver$71.63–$89.43
• Plasterer$59.83–$81.34
• Playground & Park Equipment Installer$17.13
• Plumber / Pipefitter$76.77–$113.59
• Precast Concrete Products Worker$17.13–$21.34
• Refrigeration & A/C Mechanic$76.77–$107.19
• Roofer$51.61–$70.87
• Sewer & Water System Inspection/Cleaning$17.13–$58.16
• Sheet Metal Worker$80.38–$107.92
• Shipbuilding & Ship Repair Worker$45.06–$87.79
• Sign Installer$17.13–$103.56
• Stage Rigging Mechanic$17.13
• Street & Parking Lot Sweeper$17.13–$21.69
• Striping & Traffic Control Worker$94.37–$98.49
• Teamster (Truck Driver)$49.24–$86.11
• Telecommunications Technician$62.40–$83.46
• Telephone Line Worker (Outside)$40.28
• Terrazzo Worker$43.81–$73.71
• Tile Finisher$35.93–$62.54
• Tile Setter$43.81–$71.71
• Water Well Driller$17.13–$21.30
• Window Film & Tinting Installer$17.13

How Washington's prevailing wage rules work

• Which projects. Prevailing wages apply “upon all public works and under all public building service maintenance contracts” of the state, counties, cities and other public bodies, but not to the public body's own employees (RCW 39.12.020).
• Rates lock at the bid date. A project pays “the rates that are in effect on the date when bids by prime contractors are due” for the life of the contract. If the contract isn't awarded within six months, the award-date rates apply; contracts without bids use the date they're signed (WAC 296-127-011).
• When rates change. L&I publishes on the first business day of February and August, and rates take effect 30 days later. Corrections can come at any time and also take effect after 30 days (WAC 296-127-011(1)). 666 rates in this period already carry a later correction.
• Each rate has its own effective date. L&I doesn't republish every rate each period, so dates on this site's rates run from Mar 3, 2010 to Oct 9, 2026.
• How rates are set. Where collective bargaining agreements exist, L&I adopts their wage, benefits and overtime; with more than one in a county, “the higher rate will prevail”. Otherwise L&I uses wage surveys (RCW 39.12.015).
• Residential rates are narrow. Residential rates apply only to construction, alteration, repair, improvement or maintenance of single-family homes, duplexes, apartments, condominiums and other residential buildings no more than four stories tall (basement included), and only for affordable housing (including permanent supportive and transitional housing), weatherization or rehabilitation of low-income homes, and homeless and domestic-violence shelters. Utilities, streets and structures unrelated to the housing use commercial rates. (WAC 296-127-010(9))
• Overtime and holidays vary by trade and county. Each rate carries an L&I overtime code and holiday code, and the rate pages copy their text.
• Minimum wage floor. On 1,263 survey-based rates the wage and benefits add up to less than the state minimum wage, so L&I publishes the total at $17.13, the 2026 minimum. From January 1, 2027 it's $17.73 (L&I minimum wage).
• Paperwork. Every contractor and subcontractor files an approved Statement of Intent to Pay Prevailing Wages before being paid, and an Affidavit of Wages Paid after the job is accepted (RCW 39.12.040). Registered apprentices get the apprentice rate; anyone else is a journey-level worker (RCW 39.12.021).