The Top States to Work in Construction, Ranked

Top States to Work in Construction

For the past year, Construction Junkie has been analyzing hourly wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine the Top States to Work in Construction. Now that all 50 states have been ranked, this post will serve as the complete recap for all states in the countdown.

Prior to ranking each state, we first analyzed 25 different construction related professions also based on the data from the BLS. Because the wages could vary greatly in each state, we decided to rank the wages from each state for each of the professions.

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.

Rankings System

For the purpose of this list, each state’s ranking was determined by calculating the average ranking of each of the 25 construction professions’ hourly wages after being adjusted for cost of living .  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 themselves and their families, so wages likely play a large role.

For more information about each state, click on the links below.

#50 Hawaii

Average hourly wage (unadjusted for cost of living): $32.26

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $10.84

Total average ranking for all professions after adjustment: 47.63

#49 California

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $29.04

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $15.80

Average Ranking: 45.16

#48 Maryland

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $24.85

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $18.14

Average Ranking: 45.04

#47 Oregon

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $25.31

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $17.28

Average Ranking: 43.46

#46 Maine

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $21.54

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $19.02

Average Ranking: 41.45

#45 South Dakota

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $20.35

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $20.43

Average Ranking: 36.87

#44 Florida

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $20.20

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $20.51

Average Ranking: 36.32

#43 Rhode Island

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $27.65

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $21.49

Average Ranking: 36.13

#42 South Carolina

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $20.77

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $21.06

Average Ranking: 35.75

#41 New Hampshire

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $24.33

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $21.41

Average Ranking: 33.77

#40 Arkansas

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $19.31

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $21.74

Average Ranking: 33.65

#39 North Carolina

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $20.33

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $21.42

Average Ranking: 33.24

#38 Massachusetts

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $30.41

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $21.14

Average Ranking: 31.84

#37 Alabama

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $20.43

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $22.33

Average Ranking: 30.61

#36 Vermont

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $22.34

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $21.69

Average Ranking: 29.96

#35 Mississippi

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $19.05

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $21.81

Average Ranking: 29.91

#34 New York

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $32.53

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $22.25

Average Ranking: 27.24

#33 Idaho

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $20.67

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $22.47

Average Ranking: 27.23

#32 New Mexico

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $21.11

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $22.36

Average Ranking: 27.13

#31 Virginia

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $23.35

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $22.83

Average Ranking: 27.04

#30 Montana

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $23.09

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $22.93

Average Ranking: 26.62

#29 Oklahoma

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $20.55

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $22.64

Average Ranking: 25.00

#28 Nebraska

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $21.51

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.28

Average Ranking: 24.74

#27 Georgia

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $21.37

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.38

Average Ranking: 24.71

#26 Utah

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $21.37

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.38

Average Ranking: 24.70

#25 Tennessee

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $21.16

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.40

Average Ranking: 24.13

#24 Colorado

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $23.71

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.03

Average Ranking: 23.72

#23 Arizona

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $22.41

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.20

Average Ranking: 23.48

#22 Kentucky

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $22.21

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.70

Average Ranking: 21.83

#21 Connecticut

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $28.17

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.52

Average Ranking: 21.64

#20 Texas

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $21.84

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.90

Average Ranking: 21.56

#19 Louisiana

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $22.51

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.72

Average Ranking: 21.25

#18 West Virginia

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $22.97

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $23.91

Average Ranking: 21.09

#17 New Jersey

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $31.69

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $24.56

Average Ranking: 19.68

#16 Delaware

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $25.46

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $24.90

Average Ranking: 18.86

#15 Nevada

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $26.46

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $25.04

Average Ranking: 18.80

#14 Alaska

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $34.79

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $24.21

Average Ranking: 18.05

#13 Iowa

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $22.93

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $24.79

Average Ranking: 17.92

#12 Wyoming

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $24.21

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $25.05

Average Ranking: 16.48

#11 Pennsylvania

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $26.11

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $25.69

Average Ranking: 14.88

#10 Indiana

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $24.35

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $26.59

Average Ranking: 13.25

#9 Kansas

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $24.37

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $25.89

Average Ranking: 12.91

#8 North Dakota

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $25.15

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $25.42

Average Ranking: 12.05

#7 Ohio

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $24.07

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $25.92

Average Ranking: 11.76

#6 Wisconsin

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $26.02

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $26.69

Average Ranking: 11.46

#5 Michigan

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $24.14

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $26.48

Average Ranking: 10.91

#4 Washington

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $29.69

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $27.32

Average Ranking: 9.75

#3 Minnesota

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $28.05

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $28.11

Average Ranking: 8.00

#2 Missouri

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $26.32

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $28.97

Average Ranking: 6.96

#1 Illinois

Average hourly wage (before adjustment): $32.48

Average hourly wage (after adjustment): $33.39

Average Ranking: 4.33

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