Massachusetts · plumber licensing · verified July 2026
Massachusetts plumber license requirements
The short answer
As of July 2026, Massachusetts licenses the entire plumbing workforce at the state level through the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters (Division of Occupational Licensure): apprentices must hold an apprentice license, and journeyman and master licenses each require a PSI-administered exam. A journeyman needs 6,800 supervised clock hours plus 550 classroom hours completed over at least 4 years; a master needs at least 1 year (1,700 hours) as a licensed Massachusetts journeyman plus the 110-hour Tier 5 course. All licenses renew every two years with 12 hours of continuing education for plumbers.
Do you need a license to work as a plumber in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts licenses plumbers statewide, so one credential is valid across the whole state.
Hour requirements verified directly from the official 248 CMR 11.00 text (effective 4/30/2021; the Board's 2025 red-lined amendment filing keeps the 6,800/550-hour journeyman standard). Many third-party sites still cite the outdated pre-2021 8,500-hour figure. Gas fitting is a separate parallel license from the same board; a plumbing license does not authorize gas work. No formal interstate reciprocity agreements are published by the Board.
What licenses does Massachusetts issue?
The Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters (Division of Occupational Licensure) issues the credentials below for this trade. Boards often list further classes for specialties and business licenses; these are the ones this page covers.
Hours are what each class asks for on its own terms. Where a senior class shows fewer than a journeyman, the board is counting time served after the earlier license rather than from the start; the prerequisite column says which.
| License | On-the-job hours | Classroom hours | Exam |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apprentice Plumber | not published | not published | No |
| Journeyman Plumber | 6,800 | 550 | Yes |
| Master Plumber | 1,700 | 110 | Yes |
Source: Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters (Division of Occupational Licensure) (mass.gov). Verified July 2026.
Journeyman Plumber: Licensed Massachusetts apprentice plumber for the full experience period
Master Plumber: Massachusetts journeyman plumber license held at least 1 year
How many hours do you need in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts requires 6,800 hours of on-the-job experience for a Journeyman Plumber license, plus 550 classroom hours. At a 40-hour week the on-the-job portion is roughly 3.4 years of full-time work.
What exam does Massachusetts require?
Journeyman Plumber Examination. Administered by PSI Exams (for the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters).
Master Plumber Examination. Administered by PSI Exams (for the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters).
How much does a Massachusetts plumber license cost?
Getting a Journeyman Plumber license in Massachusetts costs $83 in board fees, before any training. That is the application fee and the initial license fee charged once, with renewal charged separately below. No board publishes this total, so it is added up here from the schedule it does publish. An exam is required and its fee is not in that figure, because no amount for it appears in the board material this page is built from. Check the board's current fee schedule before budgeting.
- Application fee$31
- Initial license fee$52
- Renewal fee (recurring)$52
How often do you renew, and what continuing education is required?
Renewal period: 2 years, all licenses renewable February 1 of every even-numbered year, submission deadline May 1
Continuing education: 12 hours of Board-approved continuing education per 2-year renewal cycle for journeyman and master plumbers (gas fitter and LP installer licenses require 6 hours).
Source: renewal requirements (mass.gov). Verified July 2026.
How does the apprenticeship route work?
Apprentices must hold a state apprentice license and work under direct supervision while completing the five-tier (5 x 110 hours = 550 hours) classroom program; roughly 1,700 work hours pair with each ~165 education hours per calendar year. All supervised apprentice hours count toward the 6,800-hour journeyman requirement. Graduates of Board-qualifying public school plumbing/gas fitting vocational programs may receive up to 300 education hours and 1,700 experience hours of credit; Board-approved co-op students may accrue up to 1,700 experience hours.
Which states does Massachusetts have license reciprocity with?
No published agreement for this trade names Massachusetts. That is not the same as a closed door: states without a published list usually take out-of-state applicants through an endorsement or equivalency review instead, decided case by case on the requirements set out above.
How does Massachusetts compare to neighboring states?
Requirements stop at the state line, which matters if you live near one or expect to move. Here is what the neighboring states ask of the same trade.
| State | Journeyman hours | Licensing model |
|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 6,800 | Statewide |
| Connecticut | 8,000 | Statewide |
| New Hampshire | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Rhode Island | 8,000 | Statewide |
| Vermont | 12,000 | Statewide |
Source: state licensing boards. Verified July 2026.
How does Massachusetts compare nationally?
21 states publish an explicit hour figure for this trade, and they range from 4,000 to 12,000 hours. Massachusetts's 6,800 hours is what 2 of them ask, making it the standard rather than an outlier; 2 states ask less and 17 ask more. The full comparison is on the hours by state table.
Sources and verification
Every fact on this page traces to one of these
- Apply for a Journeyman Plumber license - Mass.gov
- Apply for a Master Plumber license - Mass.gov
- Renew a plumber, gas fitter, or liquified petroleum installer license - Mass.gov
- 248 CMR 11.00: Education and Experience Standards and Requirements for Licensure (effective 4/30/21)
Last verified July 2026. Found an error? Report it and it will be corrected and logged on the corrections page.
Other states with published requirements for this trade: Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri.
Price the whole path with the license cost estimator, or weigh earning against paying for school with the apprenticeship comparison. Back to plumbers overview.
Licensing requirements change between our verification sweeps. This page is informational only, so confirm current requirements with Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters (Division of Occupational Licensure) before making decisions. Not legal advice.