01
Requirements and steps
We use the licensing authority's published requirements throughout this page. If the licensing authority doesn't publish a requirement, we don't guess.
1Figure out which license you need
If you're starting out, the license you want is the worker one, and in Arizona that comes from a city or a county rather than from the state. Start from where you will actually be working, because it can change across a city line. The state's own classes below belong to the business, and you may want one of those later if you run the contracting business yourself.
2Choose the license class you're working toward
Each license class below has its own fees and exam rules. Start with the class you're working toward: everything below depends on it. We use the licensing authority's official license names, so you'll see the same terms on its forms.
3Build the required experience
The experience requirements for each license are quoted below exactly as the licensing authority publishes them. The licensing authority decides whether your experience qualifies, so keep your own record from day one and make sure your employer can verify your hours.
4Take the exam
If your license requires an exam, the exam name and its fee are listed under that license class. The licensing authority and the testing company are often different organizations, so the exam fee is often paid to the testing company. That's why the exam fee may appear in the candidate bulletin instead of the fee schedule.
5Apply, pay, and keep it current
Each license class below lists the fees the licensing authority publishes for it. Renewal varies by class too, so check the renewal period and fee for the class you are working toward rather than for the trade as a whole.
02
If you want to do the work
One of Arizona's license is held by the worker. Each is a separate license with its own fees and exam rules. The ones a city issues hold in that city and nowhere else in the state.
Not published for any class here: job hours, classroom hours or licenses it recognizes from other states.
Journeyman (Plumbing)10
Held by the worker · issued by Phoenix
$50 for the license itself.10 $100 to take the exam.12 Arizona Sheet Metal JATC, Phoenix, open to non-union and union members; P.I.P.E., Tempe, tests union members only administers the exam.12 You renew this every three years, for $40. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.11
Journeyman (Plumbing)
At least four years of experience related to the test being requested, evidenced by a United Association journeyman union card or a notarised statement on company letterhead11
The body that issues this class of license11City of Phoenix Planning & Development Department Where that body publishes this class of license11https://www.phoenix.gov/administration/departments/pdd/registration-licensing/journeyman-apprentice.html Phoenix doesn't list an application fee or states that recognize it.
03
Apprenticeship and hours
Nothing on this page counts your time in hours. Where a board states the requirement in years instead, the years are in its own wording with each class, and turning them into hours would need a working week no board here publishes.
04
What it pays
Among the plumbers on a payroll in Arizona, half earn more than $29.84 an hour and half earn less. The federal wage survey puts the annual figure at $62,070.4
- $21.94The bottom tenth earn this or less4
- $48.13The top tenth earn this or more4
These figures cover every experience level, from first-year apprentices to workers with decades on the job, so this is not what an apprentice earns. The survey counts 11,810 of these jobs. Self-employed workers are not included in the survey.4
The yearly figure assumes 2,080 paid hours, which is full time with no long gaps. Actual earnings can be lower where work is interrupted or seasonal.
Figures from the federal wage survey for May 2025, read 2026-08-16. The survey’s state file is a spreadsheet in a zip, not a web page.
05
If you want to run a plumbing business
These credentials apply if you plan to take work in your own name. Each is issued to the business itself rather than to any one person.
C-37 Plumbing2
Held by the business · issued by the state
$100 to apply.7 $480 for the license itself.7 $127 to take the exam.7 Gmetrix for the Statutes and Rules Exam; PSI for the trade examination administers the exam.7 You renew this every two years, for $480. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.8
Worth knowingThat $127 is two exams added together: $61 for the statutes and rules test and $66 for the trade test. You pay the two vendors, not the Registrar.
C-37 Plumbing
Four years of practical or management trade experience in this classification, at least two of them within the last ten years, held by the licence's QUALIFYING PARTY rather than by the business that holds the licence. Up to two of the four years may be satisfied by accredited technical training, and the Registrar waives the documentation entirely for a qualifying party who has held the same classification in Arizona before.1
The body that issues this class of license1Arizona Registrar of Contractors Where that body publishes this class of license2https://roc.az.gov/license-classifications CR-37 Plumbing2
Held by the business · issued by the state
$100 to apply.7 $380 for the license itself.7 $127 to take the exam.7 Gmetrix for the Statutes and Rules Exam; PSI for the trade examination administers the exam.7 You renew this every two years, for $650. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.8
Worth knowingThat $127 is two exams added together: $61 for the statutes and rules test and $66 for the trade test. You pay the two vendors, not the Registrar.
CR-37 Plumbing
Four years of practical or management trade experience in this classification, at least two of them within the last ten years, held by the licence's QUALIFYING PARTY rather than by the business that holds the licence. Up to two of the four years may be satisfied by accredited technical training, and the Registrar waives the documentation entirely for a qualifying party who has held the same classification in Arizona before.1
The body that issues this class of license1Arizona Registrar of Contractors Where that body publishes this class of license2https://roc.az.gov/license-classifications ROC doesn't list states that recognize it.
06
The examination
Gmetrix for the Statutes and Rules Exam; PSI for the trade examination and Arizona Sheet Metal JATC, Phoenix, open to non-union and union members; P.I.P.E., Tempe, tests union members only administer the exams on this page between them. The exam provider sets the exam content, publishes the study material and sets retake fees. Use the official exam names below when you look for study material, application instructions or retake information. Exam fees are listed with each class above.
- C-37 Plumbing
- AZ Statutes and Rules Training Course and Exam (SRE), plus the trade examination for this classification6
- CR-37 Plumbing
- AZ Statutes and Rules Training Course and Exam (SRE), plus the trade examination for this classification6
- Journeyman (Plumbing)
- Journeyman examination11
07
The licensing office, and how to reach it
Two different offices issue the licenses on this page, so check the class you are after for the office to contact.
ROC doesn't list who certifies the worker or where that sits.
08
Bringing a license in, and taking one out
Arizona does not publish a list of the states whose plumber licenses it recognizes. Moving to Arizona? Contact Arizona Registrar of Contractors and ask whether your current license will be recognized. Leaving? Contact the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work.
C-37 Plumbing: accepted the other way by California9
09
Questions people ask
Do you need a license to be a plumber in Arizona?
We read Arizona's licensing pages and what they publish does not settle whether individual plumbers need a license. That is not the same as no license being required, and it is not a question nobody has looked at. The place it gets answered is the city or county where you will actually be working.
How long does it take to become a plumber in Arizona?
Not as a number: Arizona doesn't publish an hours figure for any license on this page. Several states on these pages state the requirement in years instead, and turning years into hours needs a working week nobody publishes. So this page prints what was published. The experience wording with each class is where the answer is.
How much do plumbers make a year in AZ?
The middle half of the plumbers on a payroll in Arizona earn between $23.84 and $38.27 an hour, and half of all of them earn more than $29.84. These are straight-time figures, before any overtime, at every experience level, counted by the federal wage survey in May 2025. Self-employed workers are not included in them.4
Do plumbers make 100k a year?
The top tenth of plumbers on a payroll in Arizona earn above $48.13 an hour, which over a 2,080-hour year comes to more than $100,120. Those are straight-time figures: overtime pay is outside them, and so are self-employed workers. The federal wage survey counts what the top tenth earn above, not how many reach any figure past it. So yes for at least one in ten: the top tenth here clear $100,000 on straight time alone.4
How much does a plumber license cost in Arizona?
The licensing authority publishes these: $100 to apply for C-37 Plumbing, $100 to apply for CR-37 Plumbing, $480 to be issued C-37 Plumbing, $380 to be issued CR-37 Plumbing and $50 to be issued Journeyman (Plumbing). Each is per class, not per trade. None of them is the exam: where a vendor administers the exam, that fee is the vendor's and lives in its own bulletin.
Can I use a plumber license from another state in Arizona?
Not as a published rule: Arizona publishes no list of the states it recognizes. Bringing a license in and taking one out are two separate agreements, signed and published separately. Contact the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work and ask what it will recognize.
How long does it take to become a plumber?
There is no national answer. Any page that gives you one is averaging states whose requirements differ by thousands of hours. Licensing is set state by state, and in some states city by city, so the honest version of this question has a place in it. What is the same everywhere is the shape: you learn on the job, the hours that count are the ones somebody signs for, and the clock starts the day the work does.
Can you become a plumber with no experience?
Yes, and that is the ordinary way in. These trades are learned at work rather than before it, which is why boards mostly require time on the job. What you cannot skip is the paperwork: the hours that count are the ones somebody signs for, so the question to ask an employer is who signs, not whether they will train you.
Is 30 too late to become a plumber?
No. Boards set a minimum age, not a maximum. No board on these pages sets an upper limit, and where age shows up at all it is a floor. The real question at 30 is money: an apprenticeship pays you while you learn and school charges you while you learn. That difference usually decides it.
How hard is the plumber licensing exam?
None of the boards on these pages publishes a pass rate. The useful question is who administers the exam: that organization sells the reference material for it and sets what a retake costs.