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How to become a plumber in Oregon

In Oregon a person may not engage in the trade of journeyman plumber without a journeyman plumber license, which the State Plumbing Board issues to a person shown qualified by its examination; an apprentice plumber, an apprentice under the state apprenticeship law employed by a licensed plumbing contractor, may work at the trade under the supervision of a licensed journeyman plumber. The exam takes a four-year Oregon plumbing apprenticeship, or 576 hours of classroom training and 7,700 hours of on-the-job experience. Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Oregon earned a median $97,050 a year in May 2025 ($46.66 an hour).

State license for workers

Required

a passage on the pages read says so

On-the-job hours

7,700 hours

for Journeyman Plumber, the first license on the main path that takes 2,000 or more

Published fees, first steps

Not published

no fixed published fee for Apprentice Plumber

Median pay

$97,050

$46.66 an hour, May 2025

Plumber licensing in Oregon

The licensing authority is Oregon Building Codes Division (State Plumbing Board). 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
Apprentice Plumber (registered apprentice)	Be an apprentice under Oregon's state apprenticeship law, employed by a licensed plumbing contractor to assist the journeyman plumber and learn the trade; an apprentice plumber may work at the trade under the supervision of a licensed journeyman plumber. Plumbing installations, alterations or remodeling in a commercial or industrial building being built or offered for sale, exchange, rent or lease must be done by a licensed Oregon journeyman plumber or a registered Oregon apprentice plumber.	—	—	not published
Journeyman Plumber (JP)	Complete a minimum four-year plumbing apprenticeship in Oregon; or show at least 576 hours of plumbing classroom training and 7,700 hours of on-the-job experience as an apprentice or lawful journeyman plumber, at least 3,850 of them residential and 3,850 commercial; or 7,700 hours each of commercial and residential experience lawfully obtained while holding a license with a similar scope of work. The division counts no more than 2,000 hours of work experience a year, and a high school diploma, GED or equivalent is required (a college degree substitutes). After the division approves the application it mails a letter of authorization; the exam must be taken within 60 days of that letter, and the passing score is 75 percent. The application fee is $100 and is nonrefundable. Licenses run on a three-year cycle, with 24 hours of continuing education each cycle, including 4 hours of code-change courses and a 4-hour Oregon rule and law course.	7,700 hrs (≈ 3.5 yrs)	Oregon journeyman plumber exam (written)	$100

Reciprocity. Oregon has a reciprocity agreement for the journeyman plumber license with Idaho and Montana, letting a licensed individual from those states get an Oregon license without taking the exam.

Renewal. Every three years (renewal fee $180, including a $30 fee to track continuing education), with 24 hours of continuing education.

Years to this license at your hours a week → · 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 Oregon?

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

The published fee in the table above is $100. 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 Oregon?

You can be licensed as Journeyman Plumber after 7,700 hours of on-the-job training. The time-to-journeyman calculator turns the hours into years at your own hours a week.

How much do plumbers make in Oregon?

Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Oregon earned a median $97,050 a year in May 2025, $46.66 an hour. That median is 52% above the national figure of $63,800, and Oregon ranks 3 of 51 by pay for this trade.

What plumbers earn in Oregon

Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Oregon earned a median $97,050 a year in May 2025, $46.66 an hour. 5,370 people held the job, 2.7 for every 1,000 jobs in the state. That median is 52% above the national figure of $63,800, and Oregon ranks 3 of 51 by pay for this trade.

Median annual

$97,050

$46.66 an hour

Rank by pay

of 51 with a published median

Employed in OR

5,370

2.7 per 1,000 jobs

Location quotient

0.91

1.00 = national concentration

The full wage spread in Oregon

Point	Hourly	Annual	Meaning
10th percentile	$27.99	$58,230	A tenth of the workforce earns less than this.
25th percentile	$36.02	$74,920	A quarter earn less.
Median	$46.66	$97,050	Half earn less, half earn more.
75th percentile	$60.77	$126,400	A quarter earn more.
90th percentile	$70.72	$147,100	A tenth earn more than this.
Mean	$47.33	$98,450	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 Oregon

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA employs the most plumbers of the 7 metro areas based in Oregon that BLS publishes, 4,600, at a median $101,010 a year.

Metro	Employed	Median annual	10th pct	90th pct
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	4,600	$101,010	$57,640	$147,100
Salem, OR	440	$80,610	$48,330	$97,700
Bend, OR	240	$92,330	$59,370	$113,030
Eugene-Springfield, OR	210	$84,910	$47,520	$102,500
Medford, OR	200	$78,440	$45,880	$105,110
Albany, OR	130	$84,620	$46,790	$103,730
Corvallis, OR	80	$80,400	$58,110	$94,530

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.

Oregon against its neighbors on the pay ladder

#	State	Median annual	Employed
1	District of Columbia	$101,020	1,010
2	Illinois	$99,950	16,750
3	Oregon	$97,050	5,370
4	Minnesota	$94,410	10,720
5	Alaska	$93,920	1,200
6	Massachusetts	$93,880	13,460

The complete ranking is on the Plumbers and pipefitters page.

Against the national figure

Figure	Oregon	United States
Median annual	$97,050	$63,800
Median hourly	$46.66	$30.67
10th percentile, annual	$58,230	$44,150
90th percentile, annual	$147,100	$108,420
Employed	5,370	465,840

Apprenticeships in Oregon

U.S. Department of Labor records list 83 registered apprentices active in Oregon 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, 24 apprentices started; 24 have a starting wage DOL counts, fewer than the 50 a median needs here. Of those who completed that year, 14 have an exit wage DOL counts, fewer than the 50 a median needs.

Find a registered program: DOL's Apprenticeship Finder → · Every state's count and wages for this trade →

Which wages DOL counts, which titles count and how the state is assigned are on the data page.

Other trades in Oregon

Electricians ($101,310) · HVAC technicians ($62,940) · Welders ($59,450) · Truck drivers (CDL) ($61,980) · Lineworkers (power-line installers) ($131,090) · Elevator installers ($138,600) · Ironworkers ($96,050) · Sheet metal workers ($73,750) · Carpenters ($62,870) · Brickmasons and blockmasons ($79,450) · Auto service technicians ($58,520) · Diesel mechanics ($63,970) · Heavy equipment operators ($73,430) · Machinists ($63,820)

See all 15 ranked by pay in Oregon.

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.