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Plumber shortage in Kentucky: the licensed-supply numbers
What the Kentucky register actually shows, by tier and per capita, updated nightly.
As of 2026-08-09, Kentucky carries 6,298 licensed plumbers
on its state register, or 139.1 per 100,000 residents.
6,298
licensed plumbers
139.1
per 100k residents
#26
density rank of 42
Kentucky does not issue a separate apprentice license for this trade, so no pipeline ratio is published here. The tier counts below are what the register itself records.
By credential tier
Every plumber license on the Kentucky register, normalized to one ladder.
Tier
Licensed
Share
Journeyman
4,539
72%
Master
1,759
28%
Against comparable states
States nearest Kentucky on licensed plumbers per capita.
State
Licensed plumbers
Per 100k
Kentucky
6,298
139.1
Utah
5,722
167.4
Alabama
7,867
154.0
Oregon
6,346
149.9
Illinois
15,751
125.5
Maryland
6,521
105.5
Delaware
925
89.6
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 Kentucky?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. Kentucky carries 6,298 licensed plumbers on its register as of 2026-08-09, or 139.1 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed plumbers does Kentucky have?
6,298 on the state register as of 2026-08-09, including 1,759 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.