What Carpenters earn in Clackamas County, OR
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $73,710: the median annual pay for Carpenters in Clackamas County, OR. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $35.44 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $77,940, which is 5.7% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 9,210 people working in this occupation across the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Clackamas County, OR has roughly 423,975 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Carpenters in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $47,440 a year ($22.81 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $108,440 or more ($52.13 an hour). That is a gap of $61,000 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $59,330 at the 25th percentile and $103,530 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.3 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Carpenters in Clackamas County, OR is $35.44. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $73,710, and the same salary is $6,143 a month before taxes or about $2,835 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $26.65 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Carpenters
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Carpenters this way: "Construct, erect, install, or repair structures and fixtures made of wood and comparable materials, such as concrete forms; building frameworks, including partitions, joists, studding, and rafters; and wood stairways, window and door frames, and hardwood floors. May also install cabinets, siding, drywall, and batt or roll insulation. Includes brattice builders who build doors or brattices (ventilation walls or partitions) in underground passageways."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Follow established safety rules and regulations and maintain a safe and clean environment"; "Study specifications in blueprints, sketches, or building plans to prepare project layout and determine dimensions and materials required"; "Measure and mark cutting lines on materials, using a ruler, pencil, chalk, and marking gauge"; "Shape or cut materials to specified measurements, using hand tools, machines, or power saws".
Job outlook for Carpenters
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 889,700 jobs in 2025 to 924,700 in 2035, a change of +3.9%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 62,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.1% of current employment each year. About 25.1% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: apprenticeship. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $60,580 for this occupation; the Clackamas County, OR median of $73,710 is 21.7% above it.
How pay in Clackamas County, OR compares
Compared with the Oregon average
Clackamas County, OR pays above the state benchmark. The Oregon employment-weighted average for Carpenters is $67,243; the local median of $73,710 beats it by $6,467, or 9.6%. Within Oregon, Clackamas County, OR already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Carpenters is $62,469 across the contiguous United States. At $73,710, Clackamas County, OR pays $11,241 more, which is 18.0% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Clackamas County, OR
Among the 592 occupations with published wages in Clackamas County, OR, Carpenters ranks number 286 by median pay, ahead of about 52% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $156,000 a year, which is $82,290 more than the median for Carpenters.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $73,710 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $18,279 a year, which leaves $55,431, or $4,619 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $25 goes to taxes and $75 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 24.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $57,960. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $7,665, an effective 10.4% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $4,570 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,069. FICA totals $5,639, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Oregon
Oregon income tax on this salary is $4,975 a year, or 6.7% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 65% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $415 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Clackamas County, OR
IRS Statistics of Income data for Clackamas County, OR show an average adjusted gross income of $111,729 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 14.8% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.5%, compared with the 10.4% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Clackamas County, OR
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Clackamas County, OR: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $55,431 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Clackamas County, OR is $1,633 a month, or $19,596 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,878 a month. For Carpenters, a one-bedroom absorbs 35.4% of take-home pay and 26.6% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 4.7% of gross pay for Carpenters in Clackamas County, OR. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Oregon residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,553 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $595, for $2,148 in total. Gasoline in Oregon averages $4.06 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,879.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $27,059 a year, 49% of take-home pay. That leaves $28,372 a year, or $2,364 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 38.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Clackamas County, OR
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Clackamas County, OR: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Clackamas County, OR, set beside the Oregon and national medians.
Property taxes in Clackamas County, OR
Homeowners in Clackamas County, OR pay a median of $5,171 a year in real estate taxes, 33% above the Oregon median of $3,876 and 66% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $611,000, the median tax bill is 0.85% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Carpenters median of $73,710, a tax bill of that size would equal 7.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Clackamas County, OR
Renters in Clackamas County, OR pay a median gross rent of $1,758 a month in the Census survey, 15% above the Oregon median of $1,525. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,633 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $611,000, 28% above the Oregon median of $477,600. Median household income is $103,517, 25% above the Oregon median of $83,011, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 18.9% of that income.
Commuting in Clackamas County, OR
Workers in Clackamas County, OR who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.5 minutes each way, 15% above the Oregon average of 23.0. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.4 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 20.9% of workers in Clackamas County, OR work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Carpenters afford to live in Clackamas County, OR?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $73,710 that ceiling is $1,843 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,633 is $210 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.40 an hour; the median for Carpenters is $35.44, which is 13% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $26.65 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 14.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,878 a month means $939 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,328 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $36,700.
How fast you can save
At $2,364 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Carpenters pay in Clackamas County, OR
What is the hourly wage for Carpenters in Clackamas County, OR?
The median is $35.44 per hour, based on $73,710 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $22.81 at the 10th percentile to $52.13 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Carpenters in Clackamas County, OR?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $73,710 becomes $55,431 a year. That is $4,619 a month, $2,132 every two weeks or $1,066 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Carpenters in Clackamas County, OR?
Total taxes are $18,279 a year, an effective rate of 24.8%: $7,665 federal income tax, $5,639 FICA and $4,975 Oregon income tax.
Is pay for Carpenters in Clackamas County, OR above the Oregon average?
Yes. The local median of $73,710 is +9.6% versus the Oregon average of $67,243, a difference of $6,467 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Carpenters salary in Clackamas County, OR?
A one-bedroom costs $1,633 a month against take-home pay of $4,619, which is 35.4% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,843 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Carpenters in Clackamas County, OR?
About $2,364 a month ($28,372 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $27,059 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Clackamas County, OR at the 30% guideline?
$31.40 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,596 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Carpenters is $35.44.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Oregon rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.