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Current BLS California employee wages for Construction Laborers, SOC 47-2061; the occupation includes highway and street labour, and employee wages exclude premium pay and benefits.
Last updated October 21, 2026. Rates are market estimates, not guarantees.
Salary Guides / California
California construction-laborer wages help you assess road-crew offers alongside project duties, paid hours, benefits and covered public-works requirements.
California employee wages for Construction Laborers span $19.69–$45.01/hr, with published annual wages of $40,950–$93,620 a year. This occupation includes highway and street labour alongside other construction work. Equipment operators and drivers have separate duties and wage benchmarks. Match the offer to laborer duties before comparing the figures. Read the bands as broad wage comparisons. Registered apprentices follow their program's wage schedule, and covered public works use the applicable prevailing-wage determination.
What each rung of the trade is paid, before overtime and per diem.
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$28.00 is above roughly 46% of this market. The top quarter starts at $36.00, and the median sits at $29.00.
Pick your level, add certifications, select shift — the estimate updates live.
An estimate, not an offer. Overtime is paid at time and a half past forty hours.
These national construction-laborer figures cover roadbuilding, specialist site work and commercial construction. For California public projects, match duties to the prevailing-wage determination.
Paving and road repairs put laborers beside moving traffic. On Caltrans projects, ask about closure hours, crew access and traffic-control duties. Include required setup and cleanup when comparing shift length with advertised hours.
Commercial building crews support materials handling and site preparation. For work near street entrances, discuss delivery routes and separation from public traffic. Ask who directs materials handling when deliveries coincide with other trades.
Site-preparation firms handle excavation and grading within this broader group. Ask about silica controls, equipment interfaces and moves between road-related assignments. Discuss how each move affects your reporting point and recorded work time.
Median hourly across every state with a published guide for this trade. Cost of living is not netted out — compare take-home, not just the rate.
Sorted by payback speed.
| Certification | Rate bump | Extra / year | Cost | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SoCal Laborers Apprenticeship (journeyperson) | +$4.83 | $10,046 | $0 | 0 weeks |
| OSHA 30-Hour Construction | +$2.18 | $4,534 | $159 | 2 weeks |
| OSHA 10-Hour Construction | +$0.73 | $1,518 | $59 | 3 weeks |
| ATSSA Flagger Certification | +$0.29 | $603 | $125 | 11 weeks |
| Cal/OSHA Silica in Construction (8 CCR 1532.3) Training | +$0.07 | $146 | $30 | 11 weeks |
Past forty hours the rate is time and a half. Built from the rate above. At $28.98/hr.
Verified positions matching this trade and location.
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