Pennsylvania prevailing wage
State law, federal determinations, and how to find the rate that applies
- Pennsylvania has its own prevailing-wage law (43 P.S. §§165-1 to 165-17), applying to public-works contracts over $25,000, administered by PA Dept. of Labor & Industry, Bureau of Labor Law Compliance.
- The U.S. Department of Labor has 110 active federal Davis-Bacon wage determinations covering 67 Pennsylvania counties as of (latest revision date), each setting county rates by trade for federally funded construction.
- Market context: the average private construction worker in Pennsylvania earned $1,833/week (≈ $45.83/hour) in Q4 2025, rank #5 of 51 states, per the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages - an industry average, not a prevailing-wage rate.
The $25,000 threshold has been unchanged since the 1960s; maintenance work is excluded.
How to find the required rate
- State or locally funded project: use the rate schedules from PA Dept. of Labor & Industry, Bureau of Labor Law Compliance - official Pennsylvania prevailing-wage portal.
- Federally funded project: find the county in the Pennsylvania 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: 67 · Heavy: 7 · Highway: 3 · Residential: 36 - every determination and the counties it covers are listed in the Pennsylvania wage-determination index, each with its full rate schedule mirrored. Service contracts: 53 active SCA determinations for Pennsylvania.
Recently revised determinations
- PA20260114 (rev 3) - modified , Residential
- PA20260105 (rev 6) - modified , Building
- PA20260104 (rev 6) - modified , Building
What construction actually pays here
Separate from any required rate: BLS data puts the average private construction wage in Pennsylvania at $1,833/week (+4.6% YoY) in Q4 2025 - details and history on Pennsylvania 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.