Data report · Nov 1, 2026

The cheapest and priciest cities to hire a plumber

Water heater mid estimates from $1,117 to $1,589; drain cleaning nearly doubles from Hot Springs to San Jose.

Chart: Fairange mid estimates · BLS OEWS May 2025 · Share freely with attribution

Hiring a plumber isn’t one price. A water heater swap is materials-heavy; a drain clearing is almost all labor. We ran both through the same Fairange model so you can see how local OEWS plumber wages show up depending on the job.

Water heater replacement

On a standard tank water heater replacement, mainland metros stretch from about $1,117 in Hot Springs (AR) to $1,589 in San Jose. OEWS mean plumber wages there: $21.72/hr vs $54.94/hr.

#	Metro	St	Mid	Band	Wage
1	San Jose	CA	$1,589	$781–$3,267	$54.94/hr
2	Bellingham	WA	$1,511	$728–$3,131	$49.45/hr
3	Portland	OR	$1,497	$749–$3,144	$48.42/hr
4	Chicago	IL	$1,467	$733–$2,961	$46.36/hr
5	Seattle	WA	$1,466	$727–$3,182	$46.27/hr
6	Kennewick-Richland	WA	$1,455	$713–$3,111	$45.50/hr
7	Boston	MA	$1,443	$724–$3,088	$44.62/hr
8	San Francisco	CA	$1,440	$713–$3,182	$44.41/hr

Highest mid estimates. Full band uses p10/mean/p90 wages with our hours and markup.

#	Metro	St	Mid	Band	Wage
1	Hot Springs	AR	$1,117	$607–$2,233	$21.72/hr
2	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission	TX	$1,129	$609–$2,229	$22.62/hr
3	Jonesboro	AR	$1,132	$613–$2,233	$22.77/hr
4	Brownsville-Harlingen	TX	$1,133	$616–$2,245	$22.88/hr
5	Gadsden	AL	$1,145	$605–$2,272	$23.70/hr
6	Laredo	TX	$1,146	$618–$2,302	$23.77/hr
7	Fort Smith	AR	$1,147	$630–$2,242	$23.84/hr
8	Panama City	FL	$1,147	$617–$2,302	$23.86/hr

Drain cleaning — the labor story

Strip away the tank and the geography bites harder. Our mid estimate for a typical drain cleaning runs about $97 in Hot Springs versus $213 in San Jose — roughly 2.2× — because the job is mostly billed labor.

Try water heater or drain cleaning with your ZIP. City notes: San Jose (calculator), Hot Springs (calculator).

Estimates, not bids. Fairange planning estimates from public BLS wages plus published hours/materials assumptions. Not contractor bids. Hours, materials baselines, and contractor markup (2.0× / 2.25× / 2.5×) are ours — published on the methodology page. Wages are BLS OEWS May 2025. Always get local written bids.

Also: ZIP calculator · city guides · how we estimate · press kit

By The Fairange team · [email protected]