How Do You Get a Plumbing License in Pennsylvania?

Our research found no statewide Pennsylvania plumbing licence, and we treat that absence as unconfirmed rather than settled: no state agency page we read states it outright.

What we verified is local — the Allegheny County Health Department licenses apprentices, journeymen and master plumbers, and the City of Philadelphia licenses journeyman and master plumbers.

Philadelphia's rule is explicit: plumbing work needs to be done by a licensed master plumber.

Outside the issuers on this page, our research did not establish who sets the rules, so check with the municipality or county where the work is done.

There is no statewide ladder in our research; the levels are the local issuers'.

Allegheny County has three verified levels: an Apprentice Plumber card for registered apprentices, which allows plumbing as long as a journeyman plumber is present; the Journeyman Plumber license above it; and the Master Plumber license, which journeymen reach through two full years of work experience — while a journeyman candidate's own four years must be employment with a registered master plumber.

The Philadelphia levels we verified are the Journeyman Plumber license, which does not allow operating a business, and the Master Plumber license — in Philadelphia, plumbing work must be done by a licensed master plumber, who must carry $500,000 general liability, $300,000 auto liability and workers' compensation insurance.

Allegheny County sets its path in school hours and years: journeyman candidates need 576 school hours and four years' employment with a registered master plumber, then apply through the Plumbing Program to take the Journeyman Plumbers Examination; the master step requires two full years of work experience as a journeyman.

The journeyman exam costs $133 and the master exam $265.

In Philadelphia, the journeyman licence requires at least four years registered as a Philadelphia apprentice plumber — or equivalent out-of-area authorization — and the master licence at least one year as a registered Philadelphia journeyman.

The Philadelphia master plumber application fee is $50, credited to the licence fee.

Allegheny County's exams: the journeyman exam is administered twice a year, in spring and fall, at $133.00 per examination, and the 2022 version of Allegheny County Article XV applies for the exam; master candidates sit the county's Master Plumber Examination at $265.

Applications are online through the county's Accela Citizen Access portal.

In Philadelphia, both the Journeyman Plumber Examination and the Master Plumber Examination are administered by the International Code Council.

Our research does not include either issuer's content outline, so ask the Health Department's Plumbing Program or Philadelphia L&I for current candidate information.

Allegheny County renews annually: the journeyman licence renews on the plumber's birthday for $125, and the master licence renews annually for $375.

Our research did not confirm Philadelphia's renewal cycle for either plumbing licence, so confirm with Philadelphia L&I before you plan work around a renewal date.

On continuing education, we found no CE requirement stated for either issuer's plumbing licences in the pages we read.

That is an absence in our research, not a rule — check with the issuer that issued your licence rather than assuming either way.

Our research found no reciprocity agreement for Pennsylvania plumbing licences: neither the Allegheny County Health Department's pages nor Philadelphia's that we read describes one.

The closest verified provision is Philadelphia's experience rule — its journeyman qualification is at least four years registered as a Philadelphia apprentice plumber, or equivalent out-of-area authorization.

That is an experience-equivalency question for one city's licence, not a reciprocity agreement, and the city's ICC-administered exam still applies.

If you hold an out-of-state plumbing licence, ask the issuer where you intend to work what credit it gives before you rely on any.

Our research did not confirm a statewide licence lookup for Pennsylvania plumbing; expect lookup to follow the issuer.

For Allegheny County, the Health Department Plumbing Program's licensing pages are where we verified the county's rules and fees, so confirm licence status there.

For Philadelphia, our research snapshot names the city's eCLIPSE system and a 'Find a licensed contractor' search on phila.gov, but we did not verify those pages, so treat them as leads and confirm a journeyman or master plumber's status with Philadelphia L&I.

Two issuers cover the licensing we verified: the Allegheny County Health Department's Plumbing Program — apprentice, journeyman and master plumber — and the City of Philadelphia's journeyman and master plumber licences.

Our research did not establish the rules in Pennsylvania's other cities; Allentown, Erie, Scranton and Harrisburg were not covered, so check with the municipality where the work is done.

Whether a separate business licence is needed on top of a master plumber licence is the employer side of this topic; in our research, which we could not verify from a state source, plumbing contractor licensing outside Philadelphia and Allegheny County — if it exists — is set by each municipality.