How to transfer your Plumber licence to Arizona (2026)

Plumber work in Arizona is licensed at state level, by the Arizona plumbing board or contractor licensing board. This page says what a plumber licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Arizona, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

Most states license plumbers at state level, as journeyman and master, and many reciprocate with neighbouring states for journeymen who tested there; a handful (Pennsylvania, New York, Missouri, Kansas and others) leave it to cities. Apply to Arizona's board with a verification letter from your current board, certified hours and your exam result; where there is no reciprocity your hours let you sit the Arizona exam without a new apprenticeship.

How long: two to six weeks for reciprocity; an exam date can add months. Fee: $50 to $250; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• Verification letter from your current board
• Certified hours
• Backflow and medical gas certificates if you hold them

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in Arizona already.

What people get wrong

• Assuming a journeyman licence lets you contract; it does not
• Not checking whether ${STATE} licenses at state or city level before accepting a job

Who hires plumbers in Arizona

Plumbers in Arizona are hired by plumbing contractors, mechanical contractors, builders, facilities departments and utilities. The metros with the most of that work are Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa and Scottsdale. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Arizona openings page.

For the money side: the median plumber in Arizona earned $61,940 a year ($30 an hour) in May 2024 across 12,330 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Arizona has a flat 2.5% state income tax. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Arizona, on one page

The Arizona page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Arizona employers hiring from out of state.