What Construction Trades Pay in Virginia Beach: Electricians Average $30.30 an Hour

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — If you swing a hammer, pull wire or bend duct anywhere between Oceana and the Elizabeth River, the federal government just put a number on what your work is worth around here. New Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for the Virginia Beach metro shows electricians averaging $30.30 an hour and plumbers $28.50, with first-line construction supervisors topping $38.

Construction pay in Hampton Roads trails the national average, but the trades employ a bigger share of local workers than they do nationwide, and a few specialties are concentrated here like almost nowhere else.

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What Construction Trades Pay in the Virginia Beach Metro

The figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wages release for the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro area, published in July 2026. They reflect May 2025 and cover the whole metro, from Virginia Beach and Chesapeake to Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and the Peninsula, plus the slice of northeastern North Carolina the government counts in the region. These are average (mean) hourly wages, not starting pay.

Trade	Local jobs	Average hourly wage
First-line supervisors, construction trades	6,140	$38.39
Construction and building inspectors	1,260	$33.27
Electricians	5,740	$30.30
Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters	5,100	$28.50
Structural iron and steel workers	700	$28.22
Sheet metal workers	2,080	$28.17
Operating engineers and equipment operators	2,150	$26.48
Carpenters	4,020	$26.13
Painters, construction and maintenance	1,610	$24.13
Roofers	350	$22.82
Construction laborers	5,660	$19.65

Run the math on a full-time year and an electrician's average works out to roughly $63,000, a supervisor's to nearly $80,000, and a construction laborer's to about $41,000.

Why Hampton Roads Has So Many Trades Jobs

Construction and extraction work accounts for 41,190 jobs in the metro, 5.4 percent of local employment against 4.1 percent nationally. The bigger story is in the specialties. BLS counts mechanical insulation workers here at more than five times the national rate, pile driver operators at nearly six times, and sheet metal workers at three and a half times.

Anyone who has driven past the cranes in Portsmouth or Newport News can guess why. Ship construction and repair, Navy facilities, port terminals and waterfront building all lean on exactly those trades. That concentration is our read of the numbers, not a BLS finding, but it lines up with who hires in this region.

💵 The Catch: Local Pay Trails the Country

The trades group as a whole averages $27.87 an hour here against $31.42 nationally, a gap of about $3.55. Across all jobs, the metro averages $30.83 against $33.54 nationally.

The gap also runs inside each trade. Helpers earn well below the people they assist: electricians' helpers average $21.95, about $8.35 less than electricians, and plumbers' helpers $17.93. That spread is the reward for finishing an apprenticeship and getting licensed, and it is the strongest argument for doing it.

How to Use These Numbers

An average is not an offer. New hires usually start below it and seasoned journeymen often land above it. Use the table to judge whether a posting is in the right neighborhood, then ask about overtime, per diem for out-of-town work, tool allowances and whether the company pays for licensing and continuing education.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much do electricians make in Virginia Beach?

Electricians in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro averaged $30.30 an hour in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Apprentices earn less; senior electricians more.

What is the highest-paying construction job in Hampton Roads?

Among the trades BLS reported, first-line supervisors of construction workers averaged the most at $38.39 an hour, followed by construction and building inspectors at $33.27.

Do construction workers in Virginia Beach earn less than the national average?

Yes, on average. The construction and extraction group averaged $27.87 an hour locally versus $31.42 nationally.

Which trades are unusually common in Hampton Roads?

Mechanical insulation workers, pile driver operators and sheet metal workers are all employed here at several times the national rate, according to BLS location quotients.

How current is this wage data?

The release came out in July 2026 and reflects May 2025 wages. Pay may have moved since, so treat the figures as a benchmark and compare them with current postings.

Build Your Trades Career in Hampton Roads

Create a free LocalJobPage account to set alerts for electrician, plumber and construction openings across the metro, and explore the Virginia Beach Career Center for role-by-role guides.

Employers: Skilled trades candidates compare offers closely. Post your construction openings on LocalJobPage and reach them where they search.