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How to become a plumber in Oklahoma

Oklahoma law makes it unlawful to perform the work of a journeyman plumber without a journeyman plumber or plumbing contractor license from the Construction Industries Board. Every plumbing helper doing plumbing work registers as an apprentice and works under a licensed journeyman or contractor; the journeyman exam takes three years of experience in the plumbing trade while employed by a licensed plumbing contractor. Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Oklahoma earned a median $57,970 a year in May 2025 ($27.87 an hour).

State license for workers

Required

a passage on the pages read says so

On-the-job hours

None recorded

no hours figure is recorded for a license here; the table gives what each asks

Published fees, first steps

$25

for Plumbing Apprentice; published fees only, and the table names other amounts that are not in this sum

Median pay

$57,970

$27.87 an hour, May 2025

Plumber licensing in Oklahoma

The licensing authority is Oklahoma Construction Industries Board (Plumbing). The pages each row was read from are listed under the table, with the date each was read.

License	What it takes	Experience	Exam	Fee
Plumbing Apprentice (registration)	Every plumbing helper doing plumbing work must register with the Board ($25: a $20 registration fee and a $5 application fee) and be directly supervised by a licensed journeyman or contractor, at no more than three apprentices to one. The Plumbing License Law defines an apprentice as a person 16 or older learning the work under the direct supervision of a licensed journeyman plumber or plumbing contractor. The registration expires one year after it is issued, and the Board does not count experience from periods when an apprentice is unregistered, except experience lawfully obtained under federal or state law.	—	—	$25
Plumbing Journeyman	Applicants must be 18 or older and have three years of experience in the plumbing trade while employed by a licensed plumbing contractor, or three years of equivalent verifiable experience in the U.S. military. A Committee-approved associate degree or Career Tech diploma of at least 1,000 classroom hours counts for two years, and a Career Tech diploma of at least 500 classroom hours for one year. Then the Oklahoma plumbing exam, taken with the Board's national testing provider, PSI, which provides the study materials, testing fees and testing dates; a passing score is 75% on each part. A failed exam can be taken again after 30 days, and after 90 days for later failures. The Board's fee is $75 ($50 license and $25 application processing). A journeyman's plumbing work is performed under a licensed plumbing contractor. The Board also issues a Residential Plumbing Journeyman license, limited to plumbing in detached one- or two-family dwellings and townhouses of no more than three stories with a separate means of egress; a residential journeyman is employed and supervised by a licensed plumbing contractor, and the Board's fee is the same $75.	—	Oklahoma plumbing journeyman exam (PSI)	$75
Plumbing Contractor	The journeyman requirements plus one more year of experience in the plumbing trade. A contractor passes the Oklahoma plumbing exam and the Plumbing Business and Law exam. The Board's fee is $330 ($300 license and $30 application processing). An active contractor carries a $5,000 corporate surety bond and at least $50,000 of commercial general liability insurance.	—	Oklahoma plumbing exam and Plumbing Business and Law exam (PSI)	$330

Reciprocity. Under an agreement with Arkansas effective October 21, 2024, a plumber who has held an Arkansas plumbing license for at least one year, holds at least an unlimited plumbing journeyman license and passed an Arkansas or Oklahoma plumbing licensing exam may apply for an Oklahoma unlimited journeyman license without taking the journeyman test.

Renewal. Every year: a license expires on the last day of the licensee's birth month, and a journeyman or contractor needs 6 hours of continuing education within the 36 months before the license expires.

The steps in order, with exams, fees and renewal → · Every fee here, itemised and totalled → · Compare time and cost across trades and states →

Common questions

Do you need a license to work as a plumber in Oklahoma?

What does it cost to get licensed as a plumber in Oklahoma?

The published fees in the table above run from $25 to $330 depending on the tier. Read each tier's requirements for any exam or license-issue fee charged on top.

How long does it take to become a plumber in Oklahoma?

It depends on which credential you need and the training and testing each step takes; the full path is in the table above.

How much do plumbers make in Oklahoma?

Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Oklahoma earned a median $57,970 a year in May 2025, $27.87 an hour. That median is 9% below the national figure of $63,800, and Oklahoma ranks 42 of 51 by pay for this trade.

How much do apprentice plumbers make in Oklahoma?

In fiscal 2023 (October 2022 to September 2023), among registered apprentices in Oklahoma under the occupation titles the U.S. Department of Labor maps to plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, 156 apprentices started, at a median $17.75 an hour across the 156 whose starting wage DOL counts. Of those who completed that year, 48 have an exit wage DOL counts, fewer than the 50 a median needs. Wages are in that year's dollars.

What plumbers earn in Oklahoma

Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Oklahoma earned a median $57,970 a year in May 2025, $27.87 an hour. 6,050 people held the job, 3.5 for every 1,000 jobs in the state. That median is 9% below the national figure of $63,800, and Oklahoma ranks 42 of 51 by pay for this trade.

Median annual

$57,970

$27.87 an hour

Rank by pay

#42

of 51 with a published median

Employed in OK

6,050

3.5 per 1,000 jobs

Location quotient

1.18

1.00 = national concentration

The full wage spread in Oklahoma

Point	Hourly	Annual	Meaning
10th percentile	$18.26	$37,990	A tenth of the workforce earns less than this.
25th percentile	$21.78	$45,300	A quarter earn less.
Median	$27.87	$57,970	Half earn less, half earn more.
75th percentile	$35.69	$74,240	A quarter earn more.
90th percentile	$39.69	$82,560	A tenth earn more than this.
Mean	$28.35	$58,970	The average. Pulled up by the top earners.

Annual figures are the hourly rate times 2,080 hours, BLS's full-time year. Overtime is inside the survey's earnings but not separated out.

Pay by metro area in Oklahoma

Oklahoma City, OK employs the most plumbers of the 4 metro areas based in Oklahoma that BLS publishes, 2,400, at a median $59,150 a year. The best-paid is Tulsa, OK at $59,440.

Metro	Employed	Median annual	10th pct	90th pct
Oklahoma City, OK	2,400	$59,150	$38,760	$83,260
Tulsa, OK	1,950	$59,440	$37,990	$80,420
Lawton, OK	130	$51,870	$36,650	$76,580
Enid, OK	100	$56,860	$34,340	$82,450

Metropolitan statistical areas as BLS publishes them in the same May 2025 estimates. A metro that crosses a state line is listed only under its primary state, so part of a neighboring state's metro can sit outside this table. Areas outside any metro are not shown. Listed under another state but reaching into Oklahoma: Fort Smith, AR-OK.

Oklahoma against its neighbors on the pay ladder

#	State	Median annual	Employed
39	Texas	$59,840	44,090
40	Alabama	$58,670	6,950
41	Tennessee	$58,600	9,270
42	Oklahoma	$57,970	6,050
43	Georgia	$57,200	8,930
44	North Carolina	$57,080	14,510
45	West Virginia	$56,980	1,830

The complete ranking is on the Plumbers and pipefitters page.

Against the national figure

Figure	Oklahoma	United States
Median annual	$57,970	$63,800
Median hourly	$27.87	$30.67
10th percentile, annual	$37,990	$44,150
90th percentile, annual	$82,560	$108,420
Employed	6,050	465,840

Apprenticeships in Oklahoma

U.S. Department of Labor records list 427 registered apprentices active in Oklahoma in fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 to September 2024) under the occupation titles DOL maps to plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters (SOC 47-2152). The file's fiscal 2024 records largely stop after February 2024. In fiscal 2023, the latest year the file holds in full, 156 apprentices started, at a median $17.75 an hour across the 156 whose starting wage DOL counts. Of those who completed that year, 48 have an exit wage DOL counts, fewer than the 50 a median needs.

Find a registered program: DOL's Apprenticeship Finder → · What those wages come to at your hours a week → · Every state's count and wages for this trade →

Wages are DOL's own hourly figures in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation. Which wages DOL counts, which titles count and how the state is assigned are on the data page.

Other trades in Oklahoma

Electricians ($61,010) · HVAC technicians ($57,560) · Welders ($49,720) · Truck drivers (CDL) ($54,410) · Lineworkers (power-line installers) ($76,010) · Elevator installers ($105,430) · Ironworkers ($47,660) · Sheet metal workers ($65,640) · Carpenters ($46,910) · Brickmasons and blockmasons ($50,620) · Auto service technicians ($46,560) · Diesel mechanics ($55,340) · Heavy equipment operators ($47,970) · Machinists ($51,120)

See all 15 ranked by pay in Oklahoma.

The pay and employment figures on this page are the May 2025 BLS estimates, apart from the apprenticeship figures, which are DOL's; the licensing detail is read from the pages listed in the licensing section, each with the date it was read. See how the numbers are built.