The average garage door contractor in the United States earns $57,540 a year, and the median, which is the figure that describes a typical worker rather than one dragged around by the top end, is $55,720. That works out at about $27.67 an hour. Where you work moves that a long way: Alaska averages $97,370 and Arkansas $39,860. Everything below is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 release, not from job ads or self-reported surveys.
What a garage door contractor actually does for that money
Mechanical door repairers is a small, precisely counted occupation covering garage doors, dock equipment and automatic entrances. The residential side is emergency-driven and the commercial side is contract-driven, and the two pay quite differently for the same skill set.
What garage door contractors earn, from bottom to top
An average hides the spread, and the spread is what matters when you are deciding whether to enter the trade or what to pay someone. Here is the full range BLS publishes.
| Percentile | Annual | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom 10% | $38,490 | Starting out, or an apprentice rate |
| 25th | $46,610 | Still building speed and a customer base |
| Median | $55,720 | The middle of the trade |
| 75th | $65,630 | Experienced, licensed, in demand |
| Top 10% | $78,260 | Specialists, supervisors and owners |
Garage Door salary by state
Alaska pays the most at $97,370 a year, and Arkansas the least at $39,860. Cost of living explains part of that gap and licensing rules explain a good deal of the rest.
| # | State | Average annual | Median annual | Hourly | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | $97,370 | $103,550 | $46.81 | n/a |
| 2 | New Jersey | $68,750 | $67,150 | $33.06 | 1,290 |
| 3 | Utah | $65,020 | $64,660 | $31.26 | n/a |
| 4 | Washington | $64,850 | $59,930 | $31.18 | 550 |
| 5 | New Hampshire | $64,430 | $62,390 | $30.97 | 150 |
| 6 | Illinois | $62,870 | $65,090 | $30.23 | 1,770 |
| 7 | Colorado | $62,510 | $62,460 | $30.05 | 570 |
| 8 | Indiana | $61,960 | $60,560 | $29.79 | 780 |
| 9 | California | $61,940 | $59,560 | $29.78 | 2,680 |
| 10 | Maine | $61,200 | $61,140 | $29.42 | n/a |
| 11 | New York | $61,060 | $60,560 | $29.36 | 1,360 |
| 12 | Minnesota | $59,940 | $58,870 | $28.82 | 110 |
| 13 | Massachusetts | $58,660 | $55,770 | $28.20 | n/a |
| 14 | Arizona | $57,990 | $51,760 | $27.88 | 1,540 |
| 15 | Kentucky | $57,810 | $57,840 | $27.79 | 180 |
| 16 | Michigan | $57,770 | $52,370 | $27.77 | 810 |
| 17 | Iowa | $57,510 | $59,640 | $27.65 | 330 |
| 18 | Florida | $56,870 | $50,020 | $27.34 | 1,770 |
| 19 | Virginia | $55,600 | $50,880 | $26.73 | 380 |
| 20 | Pennsylvania | $55,350 | $54,360 | $26.61 | 1,040 |
| 21 | Ohio | $55,170 | $58,250 | $26.52 | 1,190 |
| 22 | Nebraska | $55,110 | $56,760 | $26.50 | 280 |
| 23 | Georgia | $55,010 | $51,510 | $26.45 | 970 |
| 24 | Maryland | $54,770 | $56,430 | $26.33 | 490 |
| 25 | North Carolina | $54,540 | $52,050 | $26.22 | 790 |
| 26 | Nevada | $54,330 | $47,840 | $26.12 | 240 |
| 27 | Wisconsin | $54,300 | $50,390 | $26.11 | 390 |
| 28 | Idaho | $54,100 | $51,770 | $26.01 | 180 |
| 29 | South Dakota | $53,680 | $50,500 | $25.81 | 160 |
| 30 | Oregon | $53,560 | $50,090 | $25.75 | 320 |
| 31 | South Carolina | $53,120 | $49,510 | $25.54 | 190 |
| 32 | Rhode Island | $53,050 | $51,160 | $25.51 | n/a |
| 33 | Texas | $52,930 | $48,190 | $25.45 | 2,010 |
| 34 | Tennessee | $51,320 | $51,790 | $24.67 | 370 |
| 35 | Missouri | $51,170 | $49,100 | $24.60 | 590 |
| 36 | Wyoming | $50,810 | $51,850 | $24.43 | 60 |
| 37 | Kansas | $50,640 | $47,960 | $24.35 | 340 |
| 38 | Montana | $50,360 | $51,370 | $24.21 | 150 |
| 39 | Connecticut | $50,170 | $48,630 | $24.12 | 460 |
| 40 | Mississippi | $48,860 | $47,060 | $23.49 | 150 |
| 41 | Louisiana | $48,030 | $47,110 | $23.09 | 210 |
| 42 | Oklahoma | $47,530 | $46,100 | $22.85 | 610 |
| 43 | West Virginia | $47,460 | $45,840 | $22.82 | 60 |
| 44 | Alabama | $41,920 | $37,440 | $20.15 | 260 |
| 45 | Arkansas | $39,860 | $38,290 | $19.16 | 230 |
Where the money is: highest paying metros
State averages flatten out the difference between a city and the rural county next to it. These are the metro areas paying garage door contractors the most.
| # | Metro area | Average annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trenton-Princeton, NJ | $72,070 | $34.65 |
| 2 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $67,870 | $32.63 |
| 3 | Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $67,840 | $32.62 |
| 4 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $67,730 | $32.56 |
| 5 | Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $67,130 | $32.27 |
| 6 | Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | $65,290 | $31.39 |
| 7 | Manchester-Nashua, NH | $64,720 | $31.12 |
| 8 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $64,420 | $30.97 |
| 9 | Modesto, CA | $63,550 | $30.56 |
| 10 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $63,320 | $30.44 |
What moves the number
- Licensing is light and varies by state, but spring and opener work is genuinely dangerous and training is what separates the rate.
- Emergency call-outs after a broken spring are the bulk of the work and they happen year round, which makes earnings steadier than most installation trades.
- Commercial and industrial doors, dock equipment and gate operators pay well above residential door service.
- The bottom ten percent of garage door contractors earn under $38,490 and the top ten percent clear $78,260. That gap is the trade telling you where the money is.
- Working for somebody else and working for yourself are different questions. These figures cover employed garage door contractors on a payroll, so they exclude the self-employed, and in this trade a large share of the best operators are exactly that.
What you can earn running the business instead
The number above is a wage. Running the business is a different calculation: you take the full ticket rather than an hourly rate, and what you keep depends on how many jobs you fit in a week, how quickly you get paid and how much of your day goes on scheduling, estimates and chasing invoices instead of on the work. That is the part software actually changes. Owners who put scheduling, estimating, invoicing and automated follow-up in one place tend to run more jobs with the same crew, which is where the gap between a garage door contractor wage and an owner income opens up.
Garage Door salary FAQs
- How much do garage door contractors make a year?
- The median garage door contractor in the United States earns $55,720 a year and the average is $57,540, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 release. Half the trade earns more than the median and half less.
- How much do garage door contractors make an hour?
- The mean hourly wage is $27.67. Annual earnings are usually higher than that rate multiplied by a standard year, because overtime, call-outs and premium work are not in the base rate.
- Which state pays garage door contractors the most?
- Alaska pays the most at an average of $97,370 a year, followed by New Jersey at $68,750 and Utah at $65,020. Cost of living accounts for some of that and licensing rules for much of the rest.
- Which cities pay garage door contractors the most?
- Trenton-Princeton, NJ tops the list at an average of $72,070 a year, with Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA at $67,870. Metro figures move a lot more than state averages, so the city matters more than the state.
- Can garage door contractors earn six figures?
- As an employee it is uncommon: the top ten percent earn $78,260. Owners are a different question, because they are paid on the job rather than on the hour, and owner income is not in these figures.
- Do these figures include self-employed garage door contractors?
- No. The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program covers wage and salary workers, so sole proprietors and business owners are excluded. In a trade with as many owner-operators as this one, that matters when you read the number.
- Where does this garage door salary data come from?
- The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, for "Mechanical Door Repairers" (SOC 49-9011). It is a survey of employers rather than of workers, which is why it is more reliable than self-reported salary sites.
All wage figures on this page are from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. BLS suppresses figures in areas with too few employers to publish safely; those appear as n/a rather than an estimate.
