Washington prevailing wage
State law, federal determinations, and how to find the rate that applies
- Washington has its own prevailing-wage law (RCW 39.12), with no contract-size threshold (all public works), administered by Washington State Dept. of Labor & Industries (L&I).
- The U.S. Department of Labor has 97 active federal Davis-Bacon wage determinations covering 39 Washington counties as of (latest revision date), each setting county rates by trade for federally funded construction.
- Market context: the average private construction worker in Washington earned $1,698/week (≈ $42.45/hour) in Q1 2026, rank #13 of 51 states, per the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages - an industry average, not a prevailing-wage rate.
All public works and building-service maintenance contracts of the state, counties and municipalities; no dollar threshold.
How to find the required rate
- State or locally funded project: use the rate schedules from Washington State Dept. of Labor & Industries (L&I) - official Washington prevailing-wage portal.
- Federally funded project: find the county in the Washington 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: 39 · Heavy: 37 · Highway: 2 · Residential: 21 - every determination and the counties it covers are listed in the Washington wage-determination index, each with its full rate schedule mirrored. Service contracts: 43 active SCA determinations for Washington.
What construction actually pays here
Separate from any required rate: BLS data puts the average private construction wage in Washington at $1,698/week (+2.9% YoY) in Q1 2026 - details and history on Washington 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.