Carpenter Salary Calculator: Your Take-Home Pay

Carpenter pay

What a carpenter earns — and takes home — in 2026

Carpentry pay is driven by trade specialty, union membership and region. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of about $59,000 for carpenters (May 2024), with residential framers near the bottom and unionized commercial and industrial carpenters, formwork specialists and millwrights toward the top.

Most carpenters are paid hourly, so overtime on big commercial jobs can add meaningfully to gross pay. A carpenter clearing 40 regular hours plus 10 hours at time-and-a-half each week earns roughly 19% more than base — run those numbers on our overtime pay calculator.

Apprentices typically start at 40%–50% of journeyman scale and step up every six months as they bank classroom and on-the-job hours. Once you reach journeyman, master carpenter and foreman pay can push total compensation past $80,000 in high-cost metros.

Self-employed carpenters and small contractors should remember the 15.3% self-employment tax on net profit — see our self-employment tax calculator before pricing a job.

Where the carpenter's paycheck goes on $59,000

On the $59,000 median, a single filer pays about $4,900 in federal income tax (after the $16,100 standard deduction) and $4,514 in Social Security and Medicare, leaving roughly $49,586 before any state income tax. Carpenters earn the most in Hawaii, Illinois, New York and Massachusetts, where union scale and high construction demand lift wages well above the national median.

$59,000 a year, broken down by pay period

Here is how the $59,000 median carpenter salary splits across common pay periods (gross, before tax). Most US employers pay bi-weekly — 26 checks a year — so the bi-weekly figure is usually what lands in your account before deductions.

Pay period	Gross amount
Annual	$59,000
Monthly	$4,917
Bi-weekly (26/yr)	$2,269
Weekly	$1,135
Hourly (2,080 hrs)	$28.37/hr

To turn any of these gross figures into take-home, the calculator at the top of this page applies 2026 federal brackets, the $16,100 single standard deduction, Social Security (6.2% to the $184,500 wage base) and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% above $200,000), then your selected state's income tax. For a deeper walk-through of each line on your stub, see our paycheck deductions guide and gross-to-net explainer.

How a carpenter can earn above the median

The fastest levers on carpenter pay are experience, credentials and location. Moving to a higher-paying employer or metro, picking up specialized certifications, and — where the role allows — overtime or a side practice all raise gross pay. Before you compare two offers, run both through this calculator: a job in a no-income-tax state such as Texas, Florida or Washington can beat a higher headline salary in a high-tax state on take-home alone. You can also model maxing out a 401(k) to cut your taxable income.

Compare with other careers

See how carpenter pay compares with a registered nurse, an accountant or a electrician — or check your exact net in Texas, California or Florida.