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Plumber shortage in Colorado: the licensed-supply numbers
What the Colorado register actually shows, by tier and per capita, updated nightly.
As of 2026-08-09, Colorado carries 21,082 licensed plumbers
on its state register, or 358.7 per 100,000 residents.
21,082
licensed plumbers
358.7
per 100k residents
#6
density rank of 42
3.38
apprentice : journeyman
The apprentice-to-journeyman pipeline behind them runs at 3.38 in Colorado, against 0.492 nationally, a read on whether the plumbers supply is being replenished.
By credential tier
Every plumber license on the Colorado register, normalized to one ladder.
Tier
Licensed
Share
Apprentice
9,752
46%
Intermediate
547
3%
Journeyman
2,885
14%
Master
4,898
23%
Contractor / business
3,000
14%
Against comparable states
States nearest Colorado on licensed plumbers per capita.
State
Licensed plumbers
Per 100k
Colorado
21,082
358.7
Idaho
11,107
565.3
Iowa
18,092
564.1
New Mexico
8,642
408.7
North Dakota
2,811
358.6
Massachusetts
24,466
349.4
New Hampshire
4,709
335.9
Counts, not a capacity opinion. We publish the licensed supply and the pipeline
ratio; whether a market can absorb a given project is a judgement for the reader, not a claim we make.
Frequently asked
Is there a plumbers shortage in Colorado?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. Colorado carries 21,082 licensed plumbers on its register as of 2026-08-09, or 358.7 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed plumbers does Colorado have?
21,082 on the state register as of 2026-08-09, including 4,898 at master level.
Where does the shortage narrative come from?
Industry analyses project national shortfalls of hundreds of thousands of skilled-trades workers against data-center and electrification demand. Those are demand-side estimates; the figure here is the licensed supply on the register today.
New licenses, ladder upgrades, classification changes and lapses, by market and credential tier. Read the quarterly free, or license the underlying data.