Pick a trade and state to see real hourly rates.
Wage figures use the latest CareerOneStop/BLS data for Carpenters (SOC 47-2031), with annual figures based on 2,080 hours.
Last updated October 22, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.
Pick a trade and state to see real hourly rates.
Wage figures use the latest CareerOneStop/BLS data for Carpenters (SOC 47-2031), with annual figures based on 2,080 hours.
Last updated October 22, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.
Hiring guide · Pennsylvania
Find qualified carpenters, verify contractor requirements, and connect with skilled candidates.
Pennsylvania carpenters build, repair, install, and finish framing, flooring, doors, cabinets, trim, and other woodwork. Strong candidates combine accurate measuring, blueprint reading, tool control, material knowledge, and jobsite safety. Use this guide to evaluate experience, verify business requirements, find trained candidates, and compare hiring options across Pennsylvania.
Candidate availability moves week to week. What does not move is the screening: the certifications below are what decide whether someone can be badged onto your site at all.
The levels are separated by what the state allows a person to do unsupervised, not by how good they are. Hiring the wrong level is the most common and most expensive mistake on a trade requisition.
Productive under supervision and cheap, but they cannot be left on a task the state licenses, and they need someone qualified with them.
Works unsupervised and can carry a helper. This is the level almost every requisition is actually describing.
Runs crews across sites, owns compliance outcomes, and where the trade allows, pulls permits and qualifies the work.
Budget $28.48 an hour for a qualified carpenter in Pennsylvania, from $18.90 at entry level to $44.29 at the top. Add a quarter to a third on top for payroll taxes, insurance and equipment, and price overtime at time and a half.
See the full carpenter salary guide →Check contractor registration, insurance, worker coverage, local requirements, and jobsite conditions before work begins. For home improvement work, confirm the contracting business is properly registered before assigning covered residential work, and check municipal rules for permits or additional trade requirements locally when needed.
Use these Pennsylvania training programs to connect with candidates who have structured carpentry preparation.
Certificates get a candidate past the first filter. These are the questions that separate the ones who can do the work from the ones who have the paperwork, and they change by level.
Certifications listed with no issuing body or date
A licence described as 'in progress'
No supervisor anyone can call
Three or four employers inside a year
Long gaps with no explanation offered
Cards that lapsed and were never renewed
A realistic schedule for a certified carpenter, from writing the requisition to a badged start. The screening steps are where time is actually lost.
Use the statewide carpenter median for market hiring and Davis-Bacon rates when a covered public project applies.
Statewide carpenter median.
Statewide carpenter median.
Davis-Bacon carpenter base rate for specified Pennsylvania counties.
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