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Plumber shortage in New York: the licensed-supply numbers
What the New York register actually shows, by tier and per capita, updated nightly.
As of 2026-08-09, New York carries 2,958 licensed plumbers
on its state register, or 15.1 per 100,000 residents.
2,958
licensed plumbers
15.1
per 100k residents
#40
density rank of 42
New York 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 New York register, normalized to one ladder.
Tier
Licensed
Share
Journeyman
1,783
60%
Master
1,175
40%
Against comparable states
States nearest New York on licensed plumbers per capita.
State
Licensed plumbers
Per 100k
New York
2,958
15.1
Nevada
970
30.4
Ohio
2,751
23.3
Mississippi
557
18.9
Tennessee
778
10.9
Pennsylvania
1,188
9.2
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 New York?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. New York carries 2,958 licensed plumbers on its register as of 2026-08-09, or 15.1 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed plumbers does New York have?
2,958 on the state register as of 2026-08-09, including 1,175 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.