What is the average handyman salary a year?

BLS puts the May 2025 median at $49,590 for employed general maintenance and repair workers. Half earn between $40,840 and $62,620, and the top-paid tenth start at $77,180. The figure counts employees only.

How much do handymen make an hour?

$23.84 an hour at the median for employed general maintenance and repair workers, the BLS group that holds handymen. State medians run from $18.70 an hour in West Virginia to $29.00 in the District of Columbia.

What is a typical handyman hourly rate?

Three companies publish $75 to $95 an hour in Las Vegas, from $80 for general work in Chicago, and $145 in the Seattle area. That is three price lists, not a survey, so there is no going rate.

What is a handyman's minimum charge?

HandyBandi in Chicago lists a minimum call-out fee from $169. My House Spouse in the Seattle area charges a $99 trip charge, waived for its members, and a half-day minimum visit from $580 for 4 hours of labor. Las Vegas Handyman Home Service has a one-hour minimum and adds a $45 dispatch fee for same-day or emergency calls.

How much does a handyman business make?

No agency or association publishes it. Census counts 897,780 residential construction and remodeling businesses with no employees, where Census files handyman services, at an average of $102,394 gross each, before materials, vehicle, insurance and tax; it includes home builders. Two handymen who published a month of their own income reported about $10,000 gross (about $7,800 kept before tax) and $22,225 in revenue with costs not given.

How much do Mr. Handyman technicians make?

Two franchisee openings we read posted an hourly range: $28.00 to $35.00 for a Service Technician in Carmel, Indiana, and $25.00 to $33.00 for a Professional Handyman in Sacramento, California. Each is one location's opening, not a company pay scale. Both start above the BLS median of $23.84 an hour.

Do handymen make good money?

For employees, the BLS band runs from $35,350 at the 10th percentile to $77,180 at the 90th, with a median of $49,590, May 2025. Owner-operators set their own rates and are not in that band.

Do you need a license to be a handyman?

Several states let unlicensed handymen take small jobs up to a dollar limit: $1,000 in California, Arizona and Nevada, $2,500 in Florida. The BLS Handbook notes that specialty work such as electrical or plumbing needs its own license.

How much can a handyman do without a license?

In California the limit is $1,000, labor and materials included, and only if you hire no workers and no building permit is needed. Arizona exempts casual or minor work on one project under $1,000 in total, unless it needs a local building permit. Nevada's exemption covers property work valued at less than $1,000. Florida's is under $2,500 for the whole contract, and it does not cover part of a larger job split up to stay under it, or anyone who advertises as a contractor.

Do you tip a handyman?

The IRS lists handymen as a tipped occupation, entry 401. No survey we could read gives tips as a share of handyman pay, so this page gives no tipping rule.

How much do handymen make in California, Texas, Florida and New York?

BLS May 2025 medians for employed general maintenance and repair workers, employees only: California $57,000 a year ($27.41 an hour), Texas $46,670 ($22.44), Florida $46,060 ($22.15) and New York $57,790 ($27.79).

Which state pays handymen the most?

The District of Columbia has the highest median for employed general maintenance and repair workers at $60,310 a year ($29.00 an hour), then Alaska at $60,270 and Minnesota at $59,200. West Virginia is lowest at $38,890. By area, Kahului-Wailuku, Hawaii is highest at $63,980.

Are building maintenance workers counted in the handyman figure?

Yes. BLS files handymen under SOC 49-9071 with building and apartment maintenance workers and does not separate them, so every BLS pay figure on this page covers the whole group.

Handyman pay

How Much Do Handymen Make?

Q: How much do handymen make?

BLS puts the May 2025 median for employed general maintenance and repair workers, the group that holds handymen, at $49,590 a year, employees only. Owner-operators are not in that figure; the published rates we read run from $75 to $145 an hour before costs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) files handymen with building and apartment maintenance workers under one code, general maintenance and repair workers, and it counts employees only. An owner-operator sets an hourly rate and a minimum per visit instead, and keeps what is left after the drive, materials and insurance.

This page puts three BLS figures side by side, adds a ZIP code tool for local pay, and ends with a calculator that has hourly and half-day presets.

$49,590 a year

Employed general maintenance and repair workers' median, the BLS group that holds handymen, May 2025[1]

The self-employed, and it mixes handymen with building and apartment maintenance staff.

$77,180 a year

Where the top-paid tenth of that BLS group start, May 2025[1]

The other 90% of employees, and every owner-operator.

$35,350 a year

Where the lowest-paid tenth of that BLS group stop, May 2025[1]

The other 90% of employees, and everyone who sets their own rate.

Which of these you would be depends on whether you draw an hourly wage, or bill your own hours and minimums.

Handyman pay near you

Employed maintenance and repair workers in Seattle earn a median of $60,760, against $49,590 nationally

Every US ZIP code is matched to its BLS area, and all 528 BLS areas publish a median for this group. The figure is for employees, and a licensing note shows for five states.

Your ZIP code

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue pays employed maintenance and repair workers a median of $60,760

BLS May 2025: $60,760 a year for employees only, 23% above the national median, across 17,790 jobs. The group includes building maintenance staff as well as handymen.

Employed maintenance and repair workers in New York-Newark-Jersey City earn a median of $59,550

BLS puts this May 2025 median 20% above the national one, across 108,700 jobs. Handymen are filed here with building and apartment maintenance workers.

The Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands median for employed maintenance and repair workers is $46,710

That is 6% below the national median in the BLS May 2025 data, across 32,050 jobs. Building maintenance staff are counted in the same group, and BLS does not separate them.

Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 49-9071, by area, employees only; Census ZIP-to-county file; USDA rural-urban codes. No agency publishes self-employed pay by area, so the calculator's price for a ZIP code follows what employees are paid in that area. The lookup runs in your browser. It loads a small file for the first three digits of your ZIP code from this site and sends nothing else.

Handyman pay by state

Washington, D.C. pays employed maintenance and repair workers a median of $60,310; West Virginia pays $38,890

The table shows the national figure, the five highest and five lowest states by BLS median, and six states that employ many people in this group, with the Census figure beside each for residential construction and remodeling businesses with no employees, where Census files handyman services.

State	Employed maintenance and repair workers, median a year (BLS May 2025)	Residential construction and remodeling business with no employees, average gross (Census 2024)
United States	$49,590	$102,394
Highest five
District of Columbia	$60,310	$125,536
Alaska	$60,270	$111,040
Minnesota	$59,200	$113,054
Washington	$59,160	$116,250
Massachusetts	$58,320	$154,783
Lowest five
West Virginia	$38,890	$79,115
Oklahoma	$42,750	$121,255
Arkansas	$43,400	$125,456
Alabama	$43,630	$118,397
Louisiana	$43,960	$107,816
Most people employed in this job
California	$57,000	$81,015
Texas	$46,670	$106,686
New York	$57,790	$77,541
Florida	$46,060	$74,217
Illinois	$56,720	$92,704
Ohio	$53,420	$102,426

First column: BLS OEWS May 2025 state medians for SOC 49-9071, employees only; BLS groups handymen with building and apartment maintenance staff. Second column: Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 2361, average gross receipts of residential construction and remodeling businesses with no employees, where Census files handyman services. It includes home builders and is before materials, vehicle, insurance and tax.

What handyman business owners charge

Published handyman rates run from $75 to $145 an hour, against a $23.84 employee median

A wage is what an employee is paid. A price list shows what an owner-operator charges before costs. Neither is take-home.

Choose one

AOn an hourly wage

+The BLS median for employed general maintenance and repair workers is $23.84 an hour, or $49,590 a year.

+Half of those employees earn between $40,840 and $62,620 a year.

+Mr. Handyman franchisees posted $28 to $35 an hour in Carmel, Indiana and $25 to $33 in Sacramento, California. By our arithmetic, $25 to $35 an hour over a 2,080-hour year is $52,000 to $72,800.

−The BLS figure does not separate a handyman from building and apartment maintenance staff, and it leaves out the self-employed.

−The lowest-paid tenth of those employees earn under $35,350 a year, and each Mr. Handyman post is one location's opening.

BBilling your own hours

+You set the rate. Three companies' own price lists show three ways to charge: hourly with a minimum, a call-out or trip charge, and half-day and full-day blocks.

+Published hourly rates run from $75 to $95 in Las Vegas, from $80 for general work at HandyBandi in Chicago, and $145 at My House Spouse in the Seattle area.

+Half-day blocks are $275 to $340 in Las Vegas and $580 for four hours of labor in Seattle. By our arithmetic, My House Spouse's half-day and full-day prices both work out to its $145 hourly rate.

−A billed rate is not take-home. These are three companies' own price lists, not a survey, and the rate has to cover the drive, materials, insurance and unbilled hours.

−Census counts 897,780 residential construction and remodeling businesses with no employees, where Census files handyman services, at an average of $102,394 gross each, before materials and costs. That includes home builders, so it overstates what a one-person handyman grosses. New Hampshire, at $162,062, has the highest state average.

No handyman association publishes a public pay survey, and no franchisor publishes its earnings figures (Item 19) on its own site, so this page gives no profit margin.

Handyman income calculator

Work out what a year of handyman jobs brings in before tax

Put in your own price, jobs, days and weeks to see a year of job income before tax. The starting numbers are examples to change.

Price per job$160An example to change: HandyBandi's published $80 hourly rate for a two-hour job, not a survey.Jobs a day3Jobs you finish on a typical working day.Days a week5Days you work in a typical week.Weeks a year48Weeks worked after time off.

Job income in a year$115,200
Your share$115,200
Card fees− $3,456

Before tax, a year$111,744about $2,149 a week

Checked November 2026. Materials, vehicle, insurance, tools and tax are not deducted, so subtract your own costs. Jobs, days and weeks are examples. With a ZIP code, price follows that area's pay level.

Do handymen get tips

The IRS lists handymen as a tipped job, entry 401

The IRS list is the firmest fact on tips in this work, and it gives no amount.

Handymen are entry 401 on the IRS list of tipped occupations[5]

Entry 401 reads "Home maintenance and repair workers. Perform work to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or building structure in repair; may maintain furniture or antiques. Handyman, roofer, window repairer, house painter, flooring installer, piano tuner, furniture restorer, antique repairer 49-9071, 49-9098, 49-9099, 49-9063, 49-2097, 51-7021". The first code, 49-9071, is the code of the pay figures on this page.

Up to $25,000 of qualified tips can be deducted for tax years 2025 through 2028[6]

Employees and the self-employed can both claim it. The deduction phases out above $150,000 modified AGI ($300,000 joint). For the self-employed it cannot exceed the net income of the business, and the tips must be voluntary.

Employees report cash tips of $20 or more in a month to their employer[7]

The IRS says the report is due by the 10th of the next month.

No survey we could read gives tips as a share of handyman pay

This page gives no tip percentage for handymen.

Handymen's own numbers

Two handymen who published a month's income took in about $10,000 and $22,225

We searched videos from 2023 to 2026 for handymen who gave their own income and do not sell courses or coaching. Two qualified. Each figure is one month, so read it as one owner's statement, not a yearly measurement.

About $10,000

gross in May 2025, about $7,800 before tax after expenses

YouTube, Handyman Process · May 2025

Part-time owner-operator, alongside a day jobGeneral handyman work

He walks through about 20 jobs in May 2025 and about 89 hours of work. He says he took in about $10,000 and kept about $7,800 before taxes, about $88 for each hour on a job. In an earlier video he said he kept about 33 cents of each dollar he billed from January to August 2023.

$22,225

gross revenue in October 2026; expenses not given

Handyman Life

YouTube, Handyman Life: Stories & Tips · October 2026

Full-time owner-operator, five months inGeneral handyman work

He says he made $22,225 in October working about five days a week, "as a single guy in a pickup truck", five months after going full-time. He gives no costs, so this is revenue, not take-home.

How much do new handymen make

The lowest-paid tenth of employed maintenance and repair workers earn under $35,350

BLS reports $35,350 a year at the 10th percentile and $40,840 at the 25th for employed general maintenance and repair workers, May 2025. It publishes no figure for new hires, so these are the closest official numbers.

A quarter of employed maintenance and repair workers earn under $40,840 a year[1]

The BLS 25th percentile for May 2025 counts employees only.

The typical entry is a high school diploma and on-the-job training[2]

That is what the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook says for general maintenance and repair workers. Licenses are needed only for specialty work such as electrical or plumbing.

BLS projects 4% job growth from 2025 to 2035 and about 148,700 openings a year[2]

The Handbook counts 1,621,800 general maintenance and repair worker jobs in 2025. It is a separate count from the pay tables, so the two totals are not comparable.

Mr. Handyman franchisee posts start at $25 and $28 an hour[9][8]

A Professional Handyman opening in Sacramento, California posted $25.00 to $33.00 an hour, and a Service Technician opening in Carmel, Indiana posted $28.00 to $35.00. Each is one franchisee's opening at one location.

Several states let unlicensed handymen take small jobs up to a dollar limit[10][11][12][13]

The limit is $1,000 in California, Arizona and Nevada, and $2,500 in Florida. The BLS Handbook notes that specialty work such as electrical or plumbing needs its own license.

Texas has no general handyman license on the state pages we read[14]

Electrical work is licensed by TDLR, which also licenses air conditioning contractors, and plumbing by the State Board of Plumbing Examiners.

What people ask about handyman pay

Each bar counts the distinct ways people phrase the question in Google's suggestions, from fixed starting points per row at the same depth for every row, so the numbers compare. Phrasings that name a place are counted separately.

about payaround the edgesthe control

Maintenance technician jobs

200

Mr. Handyman and franchises

139

Per hour

License and dollar limits

Per year

Is it worth it

Per job and minimums

Self-employed and own business

Starting out

By state or city

Domain and email

Maintenance technician jobs is the most-asked row, with 200 phrasings

Mr. Handyman and franchises came next with 139 phrasings, then pay per hour with 96.

License and dollar limits drew 52 phrasings and pay per year drew 39

Whether it is worth it drew 26, per job and minimums 24, and self-employed and own business 20.

Starting out drew 8 phrasings and pay by state or city drew 4

Maintenance jobs and franchise pay are the top two rows, which is why the hourly-wage side and the Mr. Handyman posts sit high on this page.

Measured by us in November 2026. Training and courses were measured but left off the chart.

Handyman pay questions

Booking software for handymenOnline booking and payment for handyman visits and half-day blocks.How to start a handyman businessFor owners just starting out.How much do pressure washers makeThe same pay comparison for another trade.

If you run your own handyman business, let customers book a visit and pay online instead of chasing quotes by text.

Set up your services and prices once, then share one booking link with customers.

A booking page that works as the link in your bio.
Each service with its own length and price, like an hourly handyman visit, a half-day block or TV mounting.
A deposit at booking, or a card on file for later.
Tap to Pay on iPhone, to take a card in person.

Free to start. No credit card needed.

A handyman carries a stepladder and a red toolbox up a stone path to a house, a small white pickup truck at the curb.

A handyman on a wooden stepladder holds a level against a living room wall to place a TV bracket, a sofa below.

Hands tighten a screw inside a white kitchen drawer with a screwdriver.

The kiwilaunch iPhone app showing today's bookings and payments

Services

Book now

Sources

Where every number on this page comes from, by publisher and release. Prices and job posts are each one company's own page, read in November 2026.

Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: General Maintenance and Repair Workers (49-9071), national, state and area, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-05-15 Employees only; the self-employed are not surveyed. Handymen are filed with building and apartment maintenance workers. Coverage: all 528 BLS areas publish a median for this group.
Occupational Outlook Handbook: General Maintenance and Repair Workers, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026-11-10 Page last modified October 29, 2026. Jobs in 2025, growth to 2035, openings a year, typical entry and licensing.
Nonemployer Statistics 2024: Residential Building Construction (NAICS 2361), national and state, U.S. Census Bureau, 2026-09-29 Gross receipts of businesses with no paid employees, before costs and tax. Census files handyman services under residential remodelers (236118) but does not publish that level, so 2361 also holds home builders.
Stripe pricing, standard US card rate, Stripe, 2026-10-25 The card processor kiwilaunch uses; quoted for the 3% card fee in the calculator.
Occupations that customarily and regularly received tips on or before Dec. 31, 2024, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-10 Treasury Tipped Occupation Code entry 401, home maintenance and repair workers; its first code, 49-9071, is the code of the BLS pay figures on this page.
One Big Beautiful Bill Act: tax deductions for working Americans and seniors (no tax on tips), Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-10 The cap, tax years, income limits and voluntary-tip condition of the deduction.
Topic no. 761, Tips: withholding and reporting, Internal Revenue Service, 2026-11-10 The monthly cash tip reporting rule for employees.
Mr. Handyman careers: Service Technician, Carmel, Indiana, Mr. Handyman, 2026-11-10 One franchisee's opening on the company's careers site: $28.00 to $35.00 an hour. The header also states $52,000 to $75,000 plus bonus opportunities.
Mr. Handyman careers: Professional Handyman, Sacramento, California, Mr. Handyman, 2026-11-10 One franchisee's opening on the company's careers site: $25.00 to $33.00 an hour.
Assembly Bill 2622: contractor license exemption raised to $1,000, California Contractors State License Board, 2026-11-10 Effective January 1, 2025; the limit was $500 before.
Arizona Revised Statutes 32-1121, paragraph A.14, Arizona Legislature, 2026-11-10 Exemption for casual or minor work on one project under $1,000 in total.
Handyman exemptions, Nevada State Contractors Board, 2026-11-10 Property valued at less than $1,000, labor and materials included, unless certain conditions apply.
Florida Statutes 489.103(9), Florida Legislature, 2026-11-10 Exemption for work of a casual, minor, or inconsequential nature under $2,500 in total contract price.
Electricians licensing, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, 2026-11-10 We found no general handyman license on the Texas state licensing pages we read.
Handyman Process on YouTube: "How I made $10,309 in one month", YouTube, Handyman Process, 2026-11-10 Posted May 2025. The title figure differs from the figure he says aloud, which this page uses: about $10,000.
Handyman Life: Stories & Tips on YouTube: "Handyman Income Report: Made $22,225 in October!", YouTube, Handyman Life: Stories & Tips, 2026-11-10 Posted October 2026. One month of revenue, expenses not given.
My House Spouse: how much does a handyman charge per day, Seattle, My House Spouse, 2026-11-10 One company's own price page, Seattle area. Half-day visit from $580, full day $1,160, $145 an hour after that.
Las Vegas Handyman Home Service: pricing, Las Vegas Handyman Home Service, 2026-11-10 One company's own price page. $75 to $95 an hour with a one-hour minimum; half-day and full-day blocks.
HandyBandi: how much does a handyman cost in Chicago, HandyBandi, 2026-11-10 One company's own page, Chicago. From $80 an hour for general work; minimum call-out fee from $169.

Not tax, legal or financial advice. Prices, pay and what you keep vary by state and city, licensing rules differ by state, and the tax rules on tips have conditions. A tax professional who knows your situation can answer for you.