The Top States to Work in Construction: #11 Pennslyvania

Pennsylvania top states to work in construction

For the past year, Construction Junkie has been analyzing hourly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 25 different construction related professions. The goal was to highlight how workers were compensated in each of the U.S.’ 50 states.

We also counterbalanced the raw hourly wage data with the cost of living index of the states to determine how the pay construction workers in each state was counterbalanced by the cost of groceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health, and other miscellaneous costs. All cost of living adjustment data came from Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC).

We’ve previously published a list of The 10 Highest Paid Construction Jobs That Only Require High School Diploma, but we thought it would be interesting to examine each state individually to find out where construction workers can live most comfortably.

To follow along with our state-by-state breakdown of best states to work in construction, click here.

Rankings System

For the purpose of this list, each state’s ranking was determined by calculating the average ranking of hourly wages after being adjusted for cost of living for each of the 25 professions we examined.  There are, of course, many ways to determine how good a state is to work in, but, at the end of the day, all workers have to be able to provide for them and their families, so wages should play a large role. If you see a state ranked #51 in a certain category, that is because Washington DC was included in the original data set, but was not included in this series.

#11 Pennsylvania

Landing just outside the top 10 on our countdown is Pennsylvania. The nation’s second state admitted to the union also has the 5th highest population in the country and a cost of living index that is just above the national average, at 1.6% higher.

After adjusting for the cost of living, Pennsylvania has 7 construction professions ranked in the top 10, including carpenters, construction managers, sheet metal workers, glaziers, insulation workers, floor layers, and pipelayers. In addition to those 7, the state also has another 9 professions ranked between 11 and 13. Overall, it’s a very impressive and consistent state with regards to wages.

If you’d like to see the breakdown of a specific profession, click the link the spreadsheet below:

Best Construction Jobs in Pennsylvania

This list is determined by selecting the jobs that were ranked the highest:

1. Floor Layer

2. Glazier

3. Construction Manager

4. Sheet Metal Worker

T 5. Insulation Worker

T 5. Pipelayer

Worst Construction Jobs in Pennsylvania

This list is determined by selecting the jobs ranked the lowest:

1. Construction Building Inspector

2. Welder

T 3. Roofer

T 3. Elevator Installer

5. Crane Operator