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 Ohio 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 Ohio'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 states that recognize it.
Journeyman Plumber (City of Middletown)6
Held by the worker · issued by Middletown
$50 to take the exam.6 City of Middletown Division of Building Inspection administers the exam.6 You renew this every year. The published renewal requirements do not list any additional hours requirement.6
Journeyman Plumber (City of Middletown)
Applicants for the Journeyman Plumber Exam are required to have not less than 3 years experience, which must have occurred within the last 5 years.6
The body that issues this class of license6City of Middletown Division of Building Inspection Where that body publishes this class of license7https://www.cityofmiddletown.org/178/Applications-Fees Middletown doesn't list an application fee, a license fee or licenses it recognizes from other states.
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.
The licensing authority does say whether the hours it requires can be earned online.
Plumbing Contractor
Unlicensed Contractor applying for testing: You may take 40 hours of live (in person) or virtual (webinar) non-duplicated code courses in one year for the trade applying for.1
04
What it pays
Among the plumbers on a payroll in Ohio, half earn more than $30.45 an hour and half earn less. The federal wage survey puts the annual figure at $63,330.3
- $21.86The bottom tenth earn this or less3
- $48.75The top tenth earn this or more3
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 16,390 of these jobs. Self-employed workers are not included in the survey.3
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
This credential applies if you plan to take work in your own name. It is issued to the business itself rather than to any one person.
Plumbing Contractor1
Held by the business · issued by the state
$25 to apply.1 $25 for the license itself.1 $69 to take the exam.4 PSI Services LLC administers the exam.4
Plumbing Contractor
Either have been a tradesperson in the type of licensed trade for which the application is filed for not less than five (5) years immediately prior to the date the application is filed1
The renewal term and fee depend on which of these applies to you. Find yours below.5
- Every year
- $60
- 10 hours of approved continuing education
- Every year
- $60
- Applies only to licensees who are members of the compliant contractor program.8 hours of approved continuing education
- Every three years
- $180
- Applies only to licensees who are members of the compliant contractor program.24 hours of approved continuing education
Some renewal options apply only to the licensees they name. Any option without a restriction applies to every holder of this license.
The body that issues this class of license1Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board Where that body publishes this class of license1https://com.ohio.gov/divisions-and-programs/industrial-compliance/boards/ohio-construction-industry-licensing-board/contractors-and-contracting-companies 06
The examination
PSI Services LLC and City of Middletown Division of Building Inspection 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.
- Plumbing Contractor
- Ohio Plumbing Contractor Examination4
- Journeyman Plumber (City of Middletown)
- Journeyman Plumber License Examination6
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.
The licensing authority doesn't list who certifies the worker or where that sits.
08
Bringing a license in, and taking one out
Ohio publishes a list of the states whose licenses it recognizes, class by class, and the lists are below. It does not publish the other direction: whether another state recognizes a license from Ohio is that state's decision. Moving to Ohio? Contact Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board and ask whether your current license will be recognized. Leaving? Contact the licensing authority in the state where you plan to work.
Plumbing Contractor: Ohio accepts a license toward it from Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia1
09
Questions people ask
Do you need a license to be a plumber in Ohio?
Ohio does not license individual plumbers. Cities and counties do. You still need a license; there is just no single statewide one, so the rules that apply are the ones where you will be working, and they change across a city line. Ohio licenses plumber contractors as well. Taking work in your own name, rather than working for somebody who holds that license, needs a second and different one.
How long does it take to become a plumber in Ohio?
Not as a number: Ohio 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 get paid in Ohio?
The middle half of the plumbers on a payroll in Ohio earn between $24.06 and $40.51 an hour, and half of all of them earn more than $30.45. 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.3
Can a plumber make 250k a year?
The top tenth of plumbers on a payroll in Ohio earn above $48.75 an hour, which over a 2,080-hour year comes to more than $101,410. 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.3
How much does a plumber license cost in Ohio?
The licensing authority publishes these: $25 to apply for Plumbing Contractor and $25 to be issued Plumbing Contractor. 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 Ohio?
Yes, for some. Ohio recognizes a license toward Plumbing Contractor from Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. This is the inbound direction only, and it says nothing about taking a license from here somewhere else. The conditions attached, such as how long you have held yours, are published by the licensing authority rather than in the list.
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 old 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.