Carpentry & Windows What Drives the Price Seattle, WA
Carpenter Rates in Seattle and What Drives Them Up
Seattle carpenters earn a median $36.74/hr. Work out what that becomes on your invoice, using crew size, hours, burden and materials.
A Seattle carpenter is paid a median of $36.74 an hour. What lands on your invoice is that wage multiplied by a burden and overhead factor, which for small residential contractors usually runs 2x to 3x, so roughly $73 to $110 per carpenter-hour billed. A two-carpenter day of 16 carpenter-hours therefore costs about $1,180 to $1,760 in labor before materials.
Key points
- Seattle carpenters earn a median wage of $36.74/hr in the 2025 BLS survey, against a national median of $29.12/hr, a gap of $7.62 or 26.2%.
- The billed rate is not the wage. Applying the standard 2x to 3x burden assumption puts a Seattle carpenter-hour at $73.48 to $110.22 on your invoice.
- The spread between the 25th and 75th percentile Seattle wage is $17.29/hr, which on a 32-hour job becomes $553 in wages and $1,106 to $1,660 on the invoice.
- Lumber, as measured by the BLS Producer Price Index, rose 10.1% in the twelve months to July 2026; metal doors, sash and trim rose 12.8%.
- A Seattle first-line construction supervisor’s median wage is $58.24/hr, $21.50 above a carpenter’s, which is why supervised jobs bill higher per hour.
What does a carpenter actually earn in Seattle?
The figures below come straight from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for Carpenters in Seattle, 2025 survey year. These are wages paid to workers. They are not prices quoted to homeowners.
| Area | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct | Mean | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $23.32 | $29.12 | $36.94 | $31.55 | 670,090 |
| Washington state | $29.15 | $35.67 | $44.55 | $38.06 | 26,960 |
| Seattle, WA | $30.64 | $36.74 | $47.93 | $40.42 | 14,970 |
Two things stand out. First, Seattle sits above the national figure at every point in the distribution. Second, Seattle’s spread is wider. The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is $17.29/hr in Seattle against $13.62/hr nationally. A wider spread means the identity of the specific carpenter matters more here than it does elsewhere.
Note also that Seattle holds 14,970 of Washington’s 26,960 carpenters, so the metro drags the state figure upward. The rest of Washington is meaningfully cheaper than the state median suggests.
How big is the Seattle premium in dollars and percent?
| Percentile | US wage | Seattle wage | Gap $/hr | Gap % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25th | $23.32 | $30.64 | +$7.32 | +31.4% |
| Median | $29.12 | $36.74 | +$7.62 | +26.2% |
| 75th | $36.94 | $47.93 | +$10.99 | +29.8% |
| Mean | $31.55 | $40.42 | +$8.87 | +28.1% |
The premium is not a flat percentage. It is widest at the bottom and at the top. The entry-level floor in Seattle is 31.4% above the national floor, which tells you the cheap end of the market is squeezed out here in a way it is not nationally.
How do you turn a wage into an invoice number?
The wage buys you one hour of one person swinging a hammer. Your invoice also buys payroll taxes, workers’ compensation premiums, liability insurance, the truck and its fuel, tools and their replacement, the hours spent estimating your job and not billing them, a warranty reserve for the callback, and profit.
Contractors fold all of that into a multiplier applied to the base wage. A range of 2x to 3x is the usual working assumption for small residential contractors. This is an assumption, not a BLS measurement. No federal series publishes it. It is stated here so you can argue with it, and if you think your contractor’s real number is 2.2x or 2.8x, substitute it in the tables below and the arithmetic still works.
Here is the full build-up for a mid-sized interior carpentry job. Two carpenters, three eight-hour days.
| Line | Working | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Crew | 2 carpenters | 2 |
| Duration | 3 days × 8 hours | 24 hours |
| Carpenter-hours | 2 × 24 | 48 hours |
| Base wage rate | Seattle median | $36.74/hr |
| Total wages | 48 × $36.74 | $1,763.52 |
| Burden at 2.0x | $1,763.52 × 2.0 | $3,527.04 |
| Burden at 2.5x | $1,763.52 × 2.5 | $4,408.80 |
| Burden at 3.0x | $1,763.52 × 3.0 | $5,290.56 |
| Material allowance | assumed | $1,500.00 |
| Total at 2.0x | $3,527.04 + $1,500 | $5,027.04 |
| Total at 2.5x | $4,408.80 + $1,500 | $5,908.80 |
| Total at 3.0x | $5,290.56 + $1,500 | $6,790.56 |
Every line is arguable. If your job needs one carpenter and not two, halve the labor. If the material allowance is $400, drop it. The point is that you can now build your own version instead of accepting a single number.
What does the job cost at every realistic size?
Most readers do not have a three-day, two-carpenter job. Find your row. All figures use the Seattle median wage of $36.74/hr, a two-carpenter crew where hours exceed 16, and a 2.5x burden. Materials excluded, so these are labor only.
| Job size | Carpenter-hours | Wages @ $36.74 | Labor billed @ 2.0x | @ 2.5x | @ 3.0x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half day, 1 carpenter | 4 | $146.96 | $293.92 | $367.40 | $440.88 |
| Full day, 1 carpenter | 8 | $293.92 | $587.84 | $734.80 | $881.76 |
| 2 days, 1 carpenter | 16 | $587.84 | $1,175.68 | $1,469.60 | $1,763.52 |
| 1 day, 2 carpenters | 16 | $587.84 | $1,175.68 | $1,469.60 | $1,763.52 |
| 2 days, 2 carpenters | 32 | $1,175.68 | $2,351.36 | $2,939.20 | $3,527.04 |
| 3 days, 2 carpenters | 48 | $1,763.52 | $3,527.04 | $4,408.80 | $5,290.56 |
| 1 week, 2 carpenters | 80 | $2,939.20 | $5,878.40 | $7,348.00 | $8,817.60 |
| 2 weeks, 2 carpenters | 160 | $5,878.40 | $11,756.80 | $14,695.00 | $17,635.20 |
| 2 weeks, 3 carpenters | 240 | $8,817.60 | $17,635.20 | $22,044.00 | $26,452.80 |
| 4 weeks, 3 carpenters | 480 | $17,635.20 | $35,270.40 | $44,088.00 | $52,905.60 |
Read the row that matches your scope, add your material allowance, and you have a number to hold a quote against.
How much does the specific carpenter change the price?
Two axes matter and they compound: which wage percentile the crew sits at, and how many hours the job runs. This table crosses them. Labor only, 2.5x burden, Seattle wages.
| Carpenter-hours | 25th pct ($30.64) | Median ($36.74) | 75th pct ($47.93) | Supervisor ($58.24) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | $612.80 | $734.80 | $958.60 | $1,164.80 |
| 16 | $1,225.60 | $1,469.60 | $1,917.20 | $2,329.60 |
| 32 | $2,451.20 | $2,939.20 | $3,834.40 | $4,659.20 |
| 48 | $3,676.80 | $4,408.80 | $5,751.60 | $6,988.80 |
| 80 | $6,128.00 | $7,348.00 | $9,586.00 | $11,648.00 |
| 160 | $12,256.00 | $14,695.00 | $19,172.00 | $23,296.00 |
| 240 | $18,384.00 | $22,044.00 | $28,758.00 | $34,944.00 |
The supervisor column is there because a Seattle first-line construction supervisor’s median wage is $58.24/hr. If a lead or foreman is on your job, part of your hours bill at that rate, not the carpenter rate. On a 160-hour job the difference between an all-25th-percentile crew and an all-supervisor crew is $11,040 in billed labor. Crew composition is the single largest lever on your quote, and it is almost never itemised.
What does the same job cost outside Seattle?
| Scenario, 48 carpenter-hours, 2.5x | Wage | Wages | Labor billed |
|---|---|---|---|
| National median | $29.12 | $1,397.76 | $3,494.40 |
| Washington state median | $35.67 | $1,712.16 | $4,280.40 |
| Seattle median | $36.74 | $1,763.52 | $4,408.80 |
| Seattle 75th pct | $47.93 | $2,300.64 | $5,751.60 |
Same job, same crew, same hours. Seattle at the median costs $914.40 more in billed labor than the national median, a 26.2% increase. At the Seattle 75th percentile it is $2,257.20 more, 64.6% above the national median build. Geography and crew tier together can nearly double the labor line.
How much did materials move this year?
Materials are tracked by the BLS Producer Price Index. These are index levels on a 1982 = 100 base. They are not dollars and cannot be converted into dollars. They tell you direction and pace.
| Series | July 2025 | July 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lumber (WPU081) | 264.248 | 291.019 | +10.1% |
| Metal doors, sash, trim (WPU1071) | 465.470 | 525.255 | +12.8% |
Applied to a material allowance, that year-over-year move is the reason last year’s quote does not hold.
| Material allowance a year ago | At +10.1% (lumber) | At +12.8% (doors/trim) |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | $550.50 | $564.00 |
| $1,000 | $1,101.00 | $1,128.00 |
| $1,500 | $1,651.50 | $1,692.00 |
| $2,000 | $2,202.00 | $2,256.00 |
| $4,000 | $4,404.00 | $4,512.00 |
| $8,000 | $8,808.00 | $9,024.00 |
A framing-heavy job with an $8,000 lumber allowance carries roughly $808 of pure price movement compared to twelve months ago, before any contractor markup on materials. A door and trim package at $4,000 carries about $512. If your contractor repriced an old estimate and the labor did not change, this is where the increase came from.
Reverse calculation: what wage does a quoted hourly rate imply?
Turn the arithmetic around. If a contractor quotes you a flat hourly rate, divide it by the burden multiplier to see what the worker is likely paid.
| Quoted rate | Implied wage @ 2.0x | @ 2.5x | @ 3.0x |
|---|---|---|---|
| $60/hr | $30.00 | $24.00 | $20.00 |
| $75/hr | $37.50 | $30.00 | $25.00 |
| $90/hr | $45.00 | $36.00 | $30.00 |
| $110/hr | $55.00 | $44.00 | $36.67 |
| $135/hr | $67.50 | $54.00 | $45.00 |
| $160/hr | $80.00 | $64.00 | $53.33 |
Seattle’s 25th percentile carpenter wage is $30.64. So a $60/hr quote at a 2.5x burden implies a $24.00 wage, below the Seattle 25th percentile. That is a signal, not proof of anything. It could mean an apprentice, an owner-operator with no truck payment and no office, or an unburdened cash job with no insurance behind it. Ask which.
At the other end, a $160/hr quote at 2.5x implies a $64.00 wage, above Seattle’s 75th percentile of $47.93 and above the supervisor median of $58.24. That is defensible for specialist work, and it should come with an explanation.
What are homeowners wrong about?
Misconception one: the hourly wage is the hourly rate. It is not, and the gap is large. A homeowner who reads $36.74/hr and expects a $300 quote for an eight-hour day is off by a factor of two to three. The realistic figure at the median is $587.84 to $881.76 for one carpenter for one day, labor only. The extra is not profit. Most of it is payroll tax, insurance and equipment that exists whether or not your job is running.
Misconception two: the national average tells you something about Seattle. The national median of $29.12 understates the Seattle median by $7.62/hr. Anyone quoting you national averages is quoting a number that includes metros where carpenters earn near the $23.32 national 25th percentile. On a 240-hour project that error compounds to $1,828.80 in wages and $3,657 to $5,486 on the invoice. Do not benchmark a Seattle quote against a national figure.
Misconception three: a lower hourly rate is a cheaper job. Rate times hours is what you pay. A 75th-percentile carpenter at $47.93 who finishes a job in 32 hours costs $3,834.40 in billed labor at 2.5x. A 25th-percentile carpenter at $30.64 who takes 56 hours on the same job costs $4,289.60. The cheaper rate produced the more expensive job. Ask for hours, not just rate.
When is this estimate wrong?
The arithmetic above covers wages, burden and a material allowance. It does not cover the following, and every one of them can move a real Seattle quote by hundreds or thousands of dollars.
- Permits and inspection. Structural work, egress windows and anything touching the building envelope typically triggers permitting. That is a municipal fee plus contractor time spent filing and waiting for inspection, and none of it appears in a wage series.
- Disposal. Demolition generates weight. Dumpster rental, hauling and tipping fees are real line items. Old exterior siding and framing can be heavy enough to need multiple loads.
- Code upgrades discovered on opening. Once a wall is open, existing work that no longer meets code often has to be brought current. This is the single most common reason a Seattle carpentry job exceeds its quote.
- Pre-1978 homes and lead paint. Renovation disturbing painted surfaces in older housing falls under federal lead-safe work practice rules. Certified containment, worker protection and cleanup add hours that scale with disturbed area, not with the carpentry itself. Rules are published at epa.gov.
- Access. A third-floor job with no elevator, a house on a steep lot, or a site with no parking within a block all add unbilled carrying time. Seattle’s topography makes this a bigger factor than in flat metros.
- Height and pitch. Work above ground level requires staging or lifts, and both cost rental time plus setup hours. Steep roof pitch slows every operation on it.
- Season and weather. Exterior carpentry in the Pacific Northwest wet season loses days to rain, and lost days are paid days for a crew on payroll. Winter exterior work generally prices higher than the same work in August.
- Emergency call-out. Storm damage, a failed structural member or an active water intrusion is priced on urgency, not on the OEWS median. Overtime and rearranged schedules apply.
- Wage data timing. The Seattle wage figures are from the 2025 survey year. Wages paid today may differ. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook for Carpenters covers what the trade involves and how entry works, which is the context for why supply is tight in a metro this size.
None of this is measured by any federal series. It is why the tables above give you a labor floor to reason from, not a final price.
How do you read a real quote against these numbers?
Ask for a quote that itemises four things separately:
- Labor hours and crew size. Not “labor: $4,400” but “2 carpenters, 3 days, 48 hours.”
- Materials as a distinct allowance, ideally with a note on whether it is fixed or an estimate that will be reconciled.
- Permits and fees, listed at cost or with the markup stated.
- Disposal, as its own line.
With those four separated you can drop the labor line into the tables above and see immediately which wage percentile and which burden multiplier it implies.
The one question that exposes a padded bid: “How many carpenter-hours is this, and how many people?” A contractor who has actually scoped your job answers instantly, because that number is how they built the price. A contractor who reverse-engineered a total from what they think you will pay will hesitate, generalise, or refuse. Once you have hours and crew, every other number in the quote becomes checkable arithmetic.
If the answer comes back at, say, 40 hours and $5,000 of labor, that is $125 per carpenter-hour, implying a $41.67 wage at 3.0x or a $50.00 wage at 2.5x. Both sit near or above the Seattle 75th percentile of $47.93. That is not automatically wrong. It is a question worth asking.
What to check before signing
- The quote states carpenter-hours and crew size, not just a labor total.
- Divide the labor total by the hours. Compare the result against $73 to $110 per carpenter-hour, which is the Seattle median wage at a 2x to 3x burden. Outside that band, ask why.
- Materials are a separate line, and you know whether the figure is fixed or subject to reconciliation.
- Permits and disposal appear as their own lines, or the quote states in writing that they are excluded and are your responsibility.
- There is a written provision for what happens if code upgrades are discovered once walls are open, including how the change order is priced.
- Proof of liability insurance and workers’ compensation. If a quote is far below the band above, this is the first thing to verify, because unburdened labor is exactly what a low rate implies.
- The payment schedule ties to milestones, not to dates.
- If the home predates 1978 and the work disturbs paint, the contractor holds the required lead-safe certification.
This site does not inspect properties, survey contractors or collect quotes. Everything above is arithmetic performed in public on BLS wage and price data, and you should re-run it with your own hours, your own crew size and your own burden assumption.
Read next
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- Reading a Carpentry Bid: What Should Be Broken Out Line by Line
- Why Drywall Installation Costs Less in Detroit Than the Coasts
- Hardwood Flooring Prices and What They Add to a Job
Also worth reading: Deck Repair Labor Cost in San Antonio
Also worth reading: Why Handyman Rates Run Lower in Raleigh Than Nearby Metros
Common questions
- How much does a carpenter cost per hour in Seattle?
- The wage paid to a Seattle carpenter has a median of $36.74/hr in the 2025 BLS survey, with a 25th percentile of $30.64 and a 75th percentile of $47.93. The hourly rate you are billed is higher, because it carries payroll taxes, insurance, vehicles, tools, office time and profit. Applying the usual 2x to 3x burden and overhead assumption gives a billed rate of roughly $73 to $110 per carpenter-hour at the median wage. Anything under about $70 an hour in Seattle implies either a lower-paid worker or an unburdened cash arrangement.
- Are Seattle carpenters more expensive than the national average?
- Yes. The Seattle median carpenter wage of $36.74/hr is $7.62 above the national median of $29.12/hr, a gap of 26.2%. At the 75th percentile the gap is wider: $47.93 against $36.94, which is $10.99 or 29.8%. On a two-carpenter, 24-hour job that wage gap alone adds about $366 in wages, and roughly $732 to $1,098 on the invoice once burden is applied.
- Why did my carpentry quote go up compared to last year?
- Materials moved. The BLS Producer Price Index for lumber sits at 291.019 in July 2026 against 264.248 a year earlier, up 10.1%. Metal doors, sash and trim rose faster, from 465.470 to 525.255, up 12.8%. On a job with a $2,000 material allowance, a 10.1% lumber increase adds about $202 before any markup. Those are index levels, not dollar prices, so they tell you the direction and pace of change, not what a board costs.
- What burden multiplier should I assume on a carpenter's wage?
- Two to three times the wage is the standard working assumption for small residential contractors, and it is an assumption rather than a measured BLS figure. It covers payroll taxes, workers' compensation, liability insurance, trucks, fuel, tools, unbilled office hours, warranty reserve and profit. At the Seattle median wage of $36.74/hr that gives $73.48 to $110.22 per billed carpenter-hour. A quote using 3.5x or higher is not automatically padded, but it should be explainable by the contractor.
- Is a $4,000 quote for two days of carpentry work in Seattle fair?
- Work it backwards. Two days is roughly 16 hours. A two-carpenter crew is 32 carpenter-hours. At the Seattle median $36.74/hr, wages are $1,175.68. At a 2.5x burden that is $2,939 of labor, leaving about $1,061 for materials, permits and disposal. That is coherent for a job with real material content. If the same $4,000 covers a job with $200 of materials, the implied burden is above 3.2x and you should ask what it pays for.
- Does a supervisor on site change what I pay?
- It can. A first-line construction supervisor in Seattle earns a median $58.24/hr, which is $21.50/hr above the carpenter median. If a supervisor spends 4 hours on your job and it is billed at the same burden multiplier, that is $85.98 of extra wage and roughly $172 to $258 of extra invoice against a carpenter doing the same hours. Most small residential jobs do not carry a dedicated supervisor, and you should not be billed for one who never appeared.
Sources — checked Aug 29, 2026
- BLS OEWS — Carpenters, Seattle, WA
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Carpenters
- BLS Producer Price Index — Lumber, Metal doors, sash, and trim
Wage and price index figures are taken from the sources above on the date shown. Wage data is released annually and price indexes monthly, so both move. Everything here is a calculated estimate, not a quote — get a written bid from a licensed local contractor before committing to work. See how the numbers are built.