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Plumber shortage in Pennsylvania: the licensed-supply numbers
What the Pennsylvania register actually shows, by tier and per capita, updated nightly.
As of 2026-08-09, Pennsylvania carries 1,188 licensed plumbers
on its state register, or 9.2 per 100,000 residents.
1,188
licensed plumbers
9.2
per 100k residents
#42
density rank of 42
0.64
apprentice : journeyman
The apprentice-to-journeyman pipeline behind them runs at 0.64 in Pennsylvania, against 0.492 nationally, a read on whether the plumbers supply is being replenished.
By credential tier
Every plumber license on the Pennsylvania register, normalized to one ladder.
Tier
Licensed
Share
Apprentice
227
19%
Journeyman
356
30%
Master
605
51%
Against comparable states
States nearest Pennsylvania on licensed plumbers per capita.
State
Licensed plumbers
Per 100k
Pennsylvania
1,188
9.2
Mississippi
557
18.9
New York
2,958
15.1
Tennessee
778
10.9
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 Pennsylvania?
Reporting on the shortage rarely states how many are actually licensed. Pennsylvania carries 1,188 licensed plumbers on its register as of 2026-08-09, or 9.2 per 100,000 residents. Readers can weigh that supply against demand directly.
How many licensed plumbers does Pennsylvania have?
1,188 on the state register as of 2026-08-09, including 605 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.