North Carolina prevailing wage
State law, federal determinations, and how to find the rate that applies
- North Carolina has no state prevailing-wage law - only the federal Davis-Bacon Act applies, on federally funded construction over $2,000.
- The U.S. Department of Labor has 97 active federal Davis-Bacon wage determinations covering 100 North Carolina counties as of (latest revision date), each setting county rates by trade for federally funded construction.
- Market context: the average private construction worker in North Carolina earned $1,666/week (≈ $41.65/hour) in Q4 2025, rank #21 of 51 states, per the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages - an industry average, not a prevailing-wage rate.
No state prevailing-wage law; federal Davis-Bacon applies to federally funded work.
How to find the required rate
- State or locally funded project: no state prevailing-wage requirement - check any local ordinances and the funding source.
- Federally funded project: find the county in the North Carolina determination index and open the official SAM.gov document for your construction type.
- Read the classification line - base rate plus fringe (how to read a determination); compute totals and overtime with the calculator.
Federal determinations at a glance
Building: 41 · Heavy: 20 · Highway: 6 · Residential: 30 - every determination and the counties it covers are listed in the North Carolina wage-determination index, each with its full rate schedule mirrored. Service contracts: 56 active SCA determinations for North Carolina.
What construction actually pays here
Separate from any required rate: BLS data puts the average private construction wage in North Carolina at $1,666/week (+4.7% YoY) in Q4 2025 - details and history on North Carolina construction wages.
Learn the system
What a prevailing wage is · The Davis-Bacon Act · Certified payroll · Fringe calculator
Data on this page is from U.S. government public-domain sources - free to reuse with credit and a link to prevailingwageindex.com.