Guides · The ladder

How many hours to become a journeyman plumber?

Eight thousand hours is the number everyone quotes. It is the right total in Texas and Washington — and the wrong total, or the wrong question, almost everywhere else.

The ladder is real: apprentice, then journeyman, then master. But each state sets its own gate, and the gate is rarely just a total. Three different traps hide inside the hours:

Trap 1 — the total is different

Minnesota's journeyman gate is 7,000 hours. Maryland's is 7,500. Colorado's statute caps the journeyman requirement at 6,800. A plumber who plans around 8,000 in those states is planning around a number their board never set.

Trap 2 — the split inside the total

Minnesota does not just count hours; it counts kinds of hours: at least 2,000 in water distribution, 2,000 in drain/waste/vent work and 1,000 on fixtures. Washington requires 4,000 of its 8,000 to be commercial or industrial. You can hold the right total and the wrong mix — and be short.

Trap 3 — hours that do not count

In registration states, hours worked without an apprentice or trainee registration may not count at all. The total on your pay stubs and the total on the board's ledger are two different numbers, and only the second one licenses you.

The table

The full 51-state table is on the dataset page. Your own position — total, split, registration — is what the eligibility checker computes.