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A paid job with a licensed plumbing contractor
None
$72,830 a year, about $35.01 an hour
California plumbers rough in apartments and tract homes, repipe older houses around Los Angeles and the Bay Area, and keep hospitals, campuses, and factories supplied with water and gas. State law also requires plumbers to strap water heaters to the wall so they stay upright in an earthquake.
California has no journeyman or master plumber license. The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) licenses plumbing businesses under its C-36 classification, and state law exempts employees who are paid wages and don’t own an independent business. You can start as a helper or apprentice and learn the trade on the job, and those years count toward a contractor license later.
To qualify for a C-36 Plumbing license, you need four years of journey-level plumbing experience within the past 10 years.
CSLB considers you journey-level once you can work without supervision or have completed an apprenticeship. Technical training or an apprenticeship can cover up to three of those years, but at least one year must be hands-on work. An employer, foreman, or fellow journeyman with firsthand knowledge of your work verifies the experience. Then you pass the C-36 trade exam and the Law and Business exam.
California employs about 47,660 plumbers, and the median annual salary is $72,830, or $35.01 an hour.
SkillUp houses short, low-cost programs in one place, so you don’t have to call around. Our training catalog lists only programs we have checked for cost, length, and whether they lead to work.
California has no plumber license to transfer, so you can start work for a licensed contractor right away. Plumbing experience from other states counts toward the C-36 license when verified by someone with firsthand knowledge. For contractors, California’s reciprocity agreement with Arizona covers plumbing licenses.
Not as an employee. Paid employees of a licensed contractor can do plumbing work without a license. You need a C-36 license only to contract for plumbing work yourself.
No. California has no journeyman or master plumber license. CSLB uses “journey level” as an experience standard for the contractor license.
About five years. Registered programs combine paid work under a journeyman with classroom training.
Document four years of journey-level plumbing experience from the past 10 years, then pass the C-36 trade exam and the Law and Business exam.
Yes. Apprenticeship or technical training can cover up to three of the four years, provided at least one year is hands-on work.
No. The C-36 classification covers gas piping, gas appliances, and water heaters, including solar water heating. Employees of a C-36 contractor do this work under the company’s license.
Search the contractor’s name or license number on the CSLB website to view the license classification and status.
California plumbers earn a median of $72,830 a year ($35.01 an hour), and the top 10 percent earn more than $131,100. Plumbing helpers earn a median of $47,130.
