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Reference · State of Wyoming

Wyoming trade labor costs

What a plumbing, HVAC or electrical tech earns in Wyoming, what the state adds to payroll, whether labor is taxed, what a license costs, how lien rights work and when the heating and cooling seasons peak — each figure from the agency that sets it, with the date we read it.

  • Wages BLS OEWS May 2025
  • Payroll and licenses state agencies
  • Checked and
Plumbing median
$30.01/h−2.2% vs the U.S.31st of 51
HVAC median
$26.30/h−10.3% vs the U.S.46th of 51
Electrical median
$36.59/h+20.4% vs the U.S.16th of 51
New-employer SUTA
Industry avg.on the first $33,800
Payroll programs
Noneno paid-leave or disability program found
Sales tax on labor
Not taxedrepair and installation on buildings

Pay in Wyoming

Hourly pay across all industries, May 2025. Half of the workers in each trade earn less than the median and half earn more; one in ten earns less than the 10th percentile. Union and non-union, no self-employed.

Hourly pay, 10th to 90th percentileDrawn to scale: one dollar axis for all three trades

  • PlumbingU.S. median $30.67

    plumbers: 10th percentile $21.04, 25th $23.25, median $30.01, 75th $35.00, 90th $38.48 an hour; U.S. median $30.67.

  • HVACU.S. median $29.33

    HVAC techs: 10th percentile $18.19, 25th $21.42, median $26.30, 75th $29.11, 90th $38.00 an hour; U.S. median $29.33.

  • ElectricalU.S. median $30.38

    electricians: 10th percentile $23.19, 25th $28.69, median $36.59, 75th $41.33, 90th $50.00 an hour; U.S. median $30.38.

  • 25th–75th percentile
  • State median
  • U.S. median
Hourly pay by percentile for plumbers, HVAC techs and electricians in Wyoming, BLS OEWS May 2025
PercentilePlumbingHVACElectrical
10th$21.04$18.19$23.19
25th$23.25$21.42$28.69
Median$30.01$26.30$36.59
75th$35.00$29.11$41.33
90th$38.48$38.00$50.00
Mean$29.76$26.81$35.99
U.S. median$30.67$29.33$30.38
vs U.S.−2.2%−10.3%+20.4%
Rank31st46th16th
Jobs1,1406902,960

Dollars an hour. BLS occupations: Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters (SOC 47-2152); Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics and installers (SOC 49-9021); Electricians (SOC 47-2111). “vs U.S.” compares the medians; rank 1 is the highest median of the 50 states and DC. Released May 15, 2026; the next survey is due each spring.

Payroll costs the state adds

What Wyoming charges an employer on top of wages: unemployment tax, and any paid-leave or disability program funded through payroll, and who must carry workers’ comp. Federal Social Security, Medicare and unemployment tax apply in every state and are already in the calculator. Workers’ comp premiums depend on the class code and the insurer, so the card gives the rules, not a rate.

State unemployment tax (SUTA)

Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Unemployment Insurance (Employment Tax)

Wage base
$33,800 per employee a year
New-employer rate
Industry averageEach new employer pays the average rate of its industry; there is no single number.
Construction
No separate rate published

No single new-employer rate: each new employer pays the average rate for its industry. Wyoming Department of Workforce Services: new employers (under 3 years) get a base rate calculated for their industry, plus four additional rate factors. No 2026 industry table is published.

State pages read

Workers’ compensation

Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division

Who must carry it
Any employee in constructionWyoming requires coverage only in the industries the law calls extrahazardous, and these include every business in the construction sector (NAICS sector 23), so plumbing, HVAC and electrical contractors need coverage through DWS before work begins once they have one employee (W.S. 27-14-108(a)(ii), 27-14-102(a)(viii)). Employers in industries that are not listed may choose to cover all their employees (27-14-108(j)). wyoleg.gov · dws.wyo.gov
Where to buy it
State fund onlyWyoming worker's compensation account (Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division)Coverage is provided only by the state through the Department of Workforce Services’ Workers’ Compensation Division: employers report payroll and pay premiums to the division, and all money goes to the state worker’s compensation account, from which all awards are paid (W.S. 27-14-202, 27-14-701). wyoleg.gov · dws.wyo.gov
Owners
Sole proprietors, partners, corporate officers and LLC members are not employees unless the business elects coverage for them by written notice to the division at registration or 30 days before a calendar quarter; a business with other employees that elects owner coverage must also cover those employees, and the election cannot be withdrawn for eight calendar quarters (W.S. 27-14-102(a)(vii), 27-14-108(k)). wyoleg.gov
Construction
On private work, a contractor who subcontracts is liable for the sub’s employees’ workers’ compensation premiums if the sub has not paid them, and can recover them from the sub (W.S. 27-14-206(e)). On public contracts, the prime contractor must get certification that each sub has an account in good standing before the sub begins work (27-14-206(b)). wyoleg.gov

Statute and agency pages read

Paid leave and disability insurance

We found no state paid family and medical leave or temporary disability insurance program funded through payroll in Wyoming on October 28, 2026. State paid sick leave rules, where they exist, are not covered here.

New-employer rates usually last one to three years — longer in some states (four years in Indiana, four to five in D.C.); then the state assigns your own rate, and your rate notice wins over any figure here. The calculator below uses the new-employer rate where one is clear. Where a state’s own pages could not be read, the card says so and gives the U.S. Labor Department’s figure.

What a shop in Wyoming needs to charge

The calculator’s example shop — three techs, $120,000 of overhead, a truck each, 10% net profit — with Wyoming’s median wage for each trade and its unemployment tax filled in. Your own numbers will differ; change them in the calculator below.

Wyoming publishes no single new-employer rate for contractors, so the example uses the U.S. example rate, 2.70%, on Wyoming’s $33,800 wage base.

Example shopBreak-evenRate, 10% profit
Plumbingwage $30.01$111.81$124.24→ $125
HVACwage $26.30$103.85$115.39→ $120
Electricalwage $36.59$125.94$139.93→ $140

Per billable hour; → is the rate rounded up, as the calculator rounds it. Everything except the wage and the unemployment tax is the national example (BLS, IRS and DOL figures listed on the labor rate calculator).

Change the numbers for your shop

The labor rate calculator, opened on Wyoming: pick your trade, put in your own crew, pay and overhead, and the rate and break-even redraw as you type.

Your labor rate

Who does the billable work?

Example shop in Wyoming: 3 techs at the state’s median plumber wage, $120,000 overhead. Change any number or pick another state.

Charge at least Example shop · Wyoming

Charge at least $124.24 per billable hour; break-even $111.81.

Round up to $125 (+$0.76)

See it drawn to scale
Rate build-upDrawn to scale: every dollar the same height
Rate build-up for the example, drawn to scaleColumn from $0 to $124.24 per billable hour, drawn to scale: wage $51.30, taxes & benefits $13.90, overhead $32.87, truck $13.74, profit 10% $12.42. Break-even line at $111.81. Rounded up to $125.12345$0Labor$65.20Break-even$111.81Your rate$124.24Round up to$125
  1. Wage$62,420.80 ÷ 1,216.8 h$51.30
  2. Taxes & benefits27.1% of pay$13.90
  3. Overhead$120,000 ÷ 3,650.4 h$32.87
  4. Truck$16,719.14 ÷ 1,216.8 h$13.74
  5. Profit 10%of the price$12.42
Break-even
$111.81
Profit per hour
$12.42
Revenue a year
$453,518

$111.81 ÷ (1 − 10%) = $124.24rounded up to $125

Already showing the example.

Price your tasks at $125 an hourOpens the price book builder with this rate.

Billable hours
1,216.8per tech a year
Loaded wage
$38.14per paid hour
Labor
$65.20per billable hour
Overhead
$32.87per billable hour
Truck
$13.74per billable hour
Labor burden
27.1%over gross pay

What moves your rate

  • Every billable hour sold under $111.81 loses money.
  • At 70% billable instead of 65%, break-even drops to $103.83, $7.99 an hour less.
  • Cut $10,000 of overhead a year and break-even drops $2.74 an hour, to $109.07.
Show the math
  1. Worked hours2,080 h − 26 days × 8 h = 1,872 h
  2. Billable hours per tech1,872 h × 65% = 1,216.8 h
  3. Gross pay per tech$30.01 × 2,080 h = $62,420.80
  4. Employer taxes and comp$3,870.09 SS + $905.10 Medicare + $42.00 FUTA + $912.60 SUTA + $1,666.64 comp = $7,396.43
  5. Benefits$62,420.80 × 15.25% = $9,519.17
  6. Labor per billable hour$79,336.40 ÷ 1,216.8 h = $65.20
  7. Overhead per billable hour$120,000 ÷ (3 × 1,216.8 h) = $32.87
  8. Truck per billable hour$16,719.14 ÷ 1,216.8 h = $13.74
  9. Break-even$65.20 + $32.87 + $13.74 = $111.81
  10. Rate at 10% profit$111.81 ÷ (1 − 10%) = $124.24

Change the numbers

State and trade
Trade

Fills the wage and state unemployment tax (SUTA). Workers’ comp and everything else stay as they are.

Filled for Wyoming3 figures
Wage Plumbing
$30.01/hr
Wyoming median for plumbers · BLS OEWS May 2025
SUTA rate Example
2.70%
Wyoming charges each new employer its industry’s average rate and publishes no 2026 table. The field shows the U.S. example, 2.70%.
SUTA wage base Per tech
$33,800
Wyoming · DOL Significant Provisions, July 2026

Your own rate notice wins. These are new-employer rates: after one to three years the state sets your own, and construction employers often pay a different rate.

Wyoming: pay, payroll taxes and licensesSee all 50 states and DC
Wyoming: the fine print

No single new-employer rate: each new employer pays the average rate for its industry. Wyoming Department of Workforce Services: new employers (under 3 years) get a base rate calculated for their industry, plus four additional rate factors. No 2026 industry table is published.

Crew and pay

People who bill hours. Office staff go in overhead.

Average base pay. Filled: Wyoming median for plumbers, BLS OEWS May 2025.

Hours and time off2,080 h · 26 days off

40 hours × 52 weeks = 2,080.

Holidays, vacation and sick days, 8 h each. Example: 8 + 11 + 7 (BLS).

Optional. Paid at 1.5 × the wage. Leave 0 if none.

Billable time

Share of worked hours that ends up on invoices. Published figures run from 30% to 65%.

Billable hours1,216.8 hper tech · 3,650.4 h for the shop
Payroll taxes and benefits+27.1% of pay

U.S. example, 2.70%: Wyoming charges each new employer its industry’s average rate and publishes no 2026 table. Use the rate on your notice.

Pay per tech the rate applies to. Filled: Wyoming, DOL Significant Provisions, July 2026.

Use the rate on your policy. Example: BLS construction average.

Health, retirement and other benefits. Example: BLS construction average.

Loaded wage$38.14per paid hour · burden 27.1%

Included automatically (IRS, tax year 2026): Social Security 6.2% of pay up to $184,500, Medicare 1.45%, federal unemployment (FUTA) 0.6% of the first $7,000.

Shop costs

An example figure. Everything except field pay and trucks — split it in the worksheet below.

Payments, fuel, insurance and upkeep. Enter 0 if trucks are already in overhead.

Profit

Profit as a share of the price, not a markup on cost.

Your rate: $124.24 per billable hour · break-even $111.81. Back to the result

Sales tax on your work

What Wyoming’s tax agency says about repair and installation labor on buildings and the parts and fixtures that go into them. This is what the agency’s pages say, not tax advice.

Labor
Not taxedLabor to alter, improve or construct real property isn’t subject to sales or use tax, except at oil or gas well sites.A contractor that also sells or works on tangible personal property is treated differently from one working only on real property. How repairs to building equipment such as furnaces are treated: check with the state.
Materials
Contractor, when buyingContractors are the end users of the materials and supplies they use on real property and pay sales tax when buying them, or use tax on untaxed out-of-state purchases.

Read October 24, 2026 on the agency pages listed under Sources. A “check with the state” label marks a point those pages do not settle. All 50 states and DC side by side.

Licenses and state fees

The license a shop needs from the state to contract for each trade, the board that issues it and the fees on its own schedule. Cities and counties can add their own licenses, registrations and permit fees; exam vendors and fingerprinting may charge more.

Plumbing and HVAC

Check with the state

We found no state license for these trades in Wyoming, and no official page saying they are licensed only locally. Check with your city or county building department.

Some cities license these contractors; for example, the City of Casper charges $300 for a new mechanical/plumbing contractor license and $150 to renew.

Plumbing No state plumbing license fees found.

HVAC No state HVAC license fees found.

Sources read

Electrical

State license

Wyoming Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety (Wyoming State Fire Marshal), Electrical Safety Division

Electrical Contractor license (requires a Wyoming-licensed Master Electrician as master of record)

Electrical contractors must employ full-time a Wyoming-licensed master electrician as master of record; any master electrician working in Wyoming must be employed by a licensed electrical contractor.

FeeAmount
Master electrician initial license3 years$200
Electrical contractor license (new or renewal)1 year (expires July 1 following issue)$400
Master electrician renewal3 years (renews July 1 of every 3rd year)$100

A 2.5% card processing fee (minimum $1) applies to online payments. Late renewal of an electrician license within 45 days costs an extra $50. Exam fees for the master electrician exam were not stated on the page.

Keeping the license

Renewal
A Wyoming master electrician license is valid for 3 years and renews on July 1 of every third year; journeyman licenses renew January 1 of every third year. The electrical contractor license is renewed every year and expires July 1 following issue (W.S. 35-9-125). wsfm.wyo.gov · wyoleg.gov
Continuing ed.
Master and journeyman electricians must complete at least 16 hours of Electrical Board-approved update education during each 3-year license period before renewing, with at least 8 hours on the National Electrical Code. wsfm.wyo.gov
Reciprocity
Wyoming has master electrician reciprocity with Idaho, South Dakota and Iowa. Journeyman reciprocity covers Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Iowa and Utah; the license must have been earned by exam, held a year, and the applicant must show 16 CE hours, and a reciprocal license can be obtained only once. wsfm.wyo.gov

Sources read

Beyond the trade license

Contractor registration, bond and insurance the state asks of a trade shop

Registration
Wyoming has no statewide general, residential or home-improvement contractor license or registration: Title 33 (Professions and Occupations) has no contractor or plumber chapter, and the only state trade license is the electrical contractor license from the Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety (W.S. 35-9-125). Contractor licenses are issued by cities and counties, which must recognize each other’s active contractor licenses under W.S. 16-6-1101. wyoleg.gov · wsfm.wyo.gov
Bond
Wyoming sets no state surety bond for electrical contractors (W.S. 35-9-125 requires only an annual application, fee and a full-time master electrician of record), and there is no state plumbing or HVAC license to bond. Cities that license contractors may require their own financial assurance (W.S. 16-6-1101(b)(i)(B)). wyoleg.gov · wsfm.wyo.gov
Insurance
The state electrical contractor license (W.S. 35-9-125, Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety) carries no liability-insurance requirement. Insurance minimums are set locally: Casper requires plumbing, mechanical and electrical contractors to carry $250,000 per person / $500,000 per incident bodily injury and $250,000 property damage, and Cheyenne requires liability insurance and workers’ compensation before it issues a contractor license. wyoleg.gov · wsfm.wyo.gov · casperwy.gov · cheyennecity.org

Board and statute pages read

State or city license?

State and local Who licenses the trades in Wyoming

Plumbing and HVAC (mechanical) are licensed only by cities and counties; electricians and electrical contractors need a state license from the Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety, and cities such as Casper and Cheyenne also require a city license on top of it. Casper licenses plumbing contractors, mechanical (HVAC) contractors and their master/journeyman workers, and Cheyenne’s Contractor Licensing Board requires every plumbing, electrical, refrigeration and HVAC worker on a job site to hold a city license; city licenses there expire one year from issuance. casperwy.gov · cheyennecity.org

State and city pages read

What Wyoming law says about lien rights on private jobs — the notices, the deadline to file and the deadline to sue — and whether a statute sets payment deadlines or caps retainage. Read from the statute itself; it is not legal advice.

Mechanic’s lien

Wyo. Stat. §§ 29-2-101 to 29-2-113 (Revised Wyoming Statutory Lien Act)Title 29 – Liens, Chapter 2 – Construction Liens

You, hired by the owner
A contractor must send the record owner or the owner’s agent a written preliminary notice of the right to assert a lien (and of the owner’s right to lien waivers) before receiving any payment from the owner, including advances; without it the contractor cannot assert a lien (Wyo. Stat. § 29-2-112). The form is in § 29-10-101. wyoleg.gov
Subs and suppliers
Notice requiredSubs and suppliers must send the same preliminary notice to the record owner or agent within 30 days after first providing services or materials, with a copy to the contractor they work for; missing it bars the lien (Wyo. Stat. § 29-2-112). wyoleg.gov
File the lien
150 daysSend the owner a notice of intent to file a lien at least 20 days before filing (Wyo. Stat. § 29-2-107), then file the lien statement within 150 days for a contractor (120 days for everyone else) after the earlier of the last day of work or materials or substantial completion of the project (§ 29-2-106(a)); a recorded notice of substantial completion is presumed to start the clock. wyoleg.gov
Enforce it
180 daysStart the foreclosure action within 180 days after filing the lien statement, or the lien ends (Wyo. Stat. § 29-2-109). wyoleg.gov

Statutes read

Payment deadlines and retainage

Private jobs (public contracts have their own rules)

Prompt payment
No private-job statuteNo Wyoming statute sets payment deadlines or late-payment interest on private construction jobs; the payment and completion rules in Wyo. Stat. § 16-6-116 apply to public works let by a public entity. wyoleg.gov
Retainage
No private-job capNo Wyoming statute caps or times retainage on private construction jobs; the construction lien chapter of Title 29 has no retainage rule, and the contractor-payment rules in Title 16, Chapter 6 (§§ 16-6-116, 16-6-117) apply to public works. wyoleg.gov

Statutes read

Heating and cooling season in Wyoming

Degree days, NOAA’s index of the energy it takes to heat or cool a building: each degree a day’s mean temperature falls below 65 °F is one heating degree day, each degree above is one cooling degree day. Thirty-year normals for Cheyenne, month by month.

Heating degree days
6,959
Cooling degree days
399
Nights ≤ 32 °F
170
Days ≥ 90 °F
15
Normal heating and cooling degree days (base 65 °F) and freezing nights by month at Cheyenne, NOAA 1991–2020 normals
MonthHeatingCoolingNights ≤ 32 °F
Jan1,110029
Feb994026
Mar865025
Apr666018
May39845
Jun11556–
Jul17175–
Aug33130–
Sep196321
Oct574113
Nov867024
Dec1,125029

Heating carries the load at Cheyenne: 6,959 heating degree days a year against 399 cooling degree days, peaking in December (1,125).

The lightest months for heating and cooling together are June and August (171 and 163 degree days).

Nights at or below 32 °F: about 170 a year, ten or more a month in October through April; 8 at or below 0 °F. Days reaching 90 °F: about 15 a year, the most in July.

Weighted by where Wyoming’s people live, NOAA’s statewide normals (1981–2010) are 7,911 heating and 294 cooling degree days — 4th for heating and 44th for cooling among the 48 contiguous states (the contiguous U.S.: 4,332 and 1,272).

Station: Cheyenne (USW00024018), NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 — station file; statewide figures: NOAA Climate Prediction Center. Bars share one scale: the longest is 1,125 degree days. Read .

Sources

Each page opened on the date shown. License, registration, lien and workers’ comp sources are linked beside each fact above. Figures change: the agency’s own page wins over this one.

  1. May 2025 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates (state file oesm25st)U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · read October 28, 2026
  2. Occupational Employment and Wages — May 2025 (news release USDL-26-0725, May 15, 2026)U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · read October 28, 2026
  3. Public Data API (national OEWS series for the three occupations)U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · read October 28, 2026
  4. Unemployment insurance tax rates (dws.wyo.gov)Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Unemployment Insurance (Employment Tax) · read October 28, 2026
  5. Unemployment insurance tax rates (dws.wyo.gov)Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Unemployment Insurance (Employment Tax) · read October 28, 2026
  6. Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Insurance Laws, Effective July 2026U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Unemployment Insurance · read October 28, 2026
  7. Excise Tax FAQsWyoming Department of Revenue · no date shown · read October 24, 2026
  8. Contractor (publication linked from the Excise Tax Division’s educational materials)Wyoming Department of Revenue · last revised August 2026 · read October 24, 2026
  9. Wyo. Stat. §§ 29-2-101 to 29-2-113 (Revised Wyoming Statutory Lien Act) — Title 29 – Liens, Chapter 2 – Construction LiensOfficial state code · read November 4, 2026
  10. Workers’ compensation coverage requirementsWyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division · read November 4, 2026
  11. U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Cheyenne (USW00024018)NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · read November 4, 2026
  12. Population-weighted daily heating and cooling degree day normals, 1981–2010 (states and CONUS)NOAA National Weather Service, Climate Prediction Center · read November 4, 2026