What should contractors actually be charging?

About this data

All figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2024 release. The OEWS surveys about 1.1 million establishments each year to produce employment and wage estimates.

A few things worth knowing:

• These are employee wages, not billing rates. If you're running your own shop, your billing rate needs to cover overhead, insurance, truck costs, and profit on top of what you'd pay a tech.
• The typical markup from employee wage to customer billing rate runs 1.5x to 2.5x depending on your trade and market.
• BLS data covers W-2 employees. It doesn't capture independent contractors or 1099 workers, who often earn more per hour but cover their own benefits.
• "Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers" (SOC 37-3011) includes laborers, not just business owners. Owner-operators typically earn significantly more.

If you're using this to figure out whether you're charging enough: you probably aren't. Most contractors we talk to are leaving 15-30% on the table compared to what their market will bear.