Plumbing Revenue per Business

What the average one-person plumbing business takes in, from federal data.

Revenue per business Census

Average receipts, one-person plumbing business, 2023 NAICS 238220

$78,389

178,663 businesses with no employees reported $14,005,180,000 in total receipts.

This is revenue, not income. Supplies, fuel, insurance, rent and taxes all come out of it before the owner is paid.

What owners keep IRS

Average net income per sole proprietor, 2023 wider group

$16,054

Average receipts in the same group: $102,220 across 2,521,516 returns.

Not plumbing alone. The IRS does not publish plumbing separately. This figure covers the whole "Specialty trade contractors" group, so it mixes in other trades. It is an average, and losses pull it down.

How to read these numbers

Both figures are averages. No federal source publishes a median or a percentile range for owners of a single business type, so this page does not show one. The Census figure counts only businesses with no paid employees. Next: what it costs to start a plumbing business.

Q.01 How much revenue does a plumbing business make?

The average plumbing business with no employees took in $78,389 in 2023 (U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics). That is revenue before any costs. Census has no separate code for plumbing: it counts it under "Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors", which also covers other work.

Q.02 How much does a plumbing owner actually earn?

No federal source publishes owner income for plumbing alone. The IRS reports an average net income of $16,054 per sole proprietor return for the wider group "Specialty trade contractors", which mixes in other trades.

Sources n=2

01 U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2023 (NS2300NONEMP), NAICS 23822 Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors, US total, all legal forms. Retrieved 2026-09-21.
02 IRS Statistics of Income, Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships, Table 1, Tax Year 2023, row "Specialty trade contractors". Retrieved 2026-09-22.