What a Locksmith Costs in Every State

Locksmith shop hour, US

$90/hr2

Pay $26.67Low state NM $60High state CT $136

A US locksmith shop takes in about $90 for every hour of locksmith pay, parts included. That runs from $60 in New Mexico to $136 in Connecticut. The locksmith gets $26.67 of it2. Published job prices line up with that math: Thumbtack puts a lockout at $166 to $1924, which is about two shop hours.

I'm Mike German, president of Silver State Locksmith in Las Vegas, with more than 20 years in the locksmith trade. Here's what the federal numbers say a locksmith costs in your state, plus a way to test any quote you get.

National Price Guides Don't Answer the Question

Thumbtack gives one national range: $123 to $2754. Angi and HomeGuide have national or city pages, and they don't line up. Angi has rekeying at $50 to $130 per lock5. HomeGuide's Los Angeles page has it at $20 to $507. We didn't find a guide with every state in one table.

Part of that gap is what's being counted. One guide prices the lock, another prices the whole visit. Here they are side by side:

Job	National (Thumbtack4)	Las Vegas (our shop's site6)	Los Angeles (HomeGuide7)
Trip or service call	$30 to $150	$45 to $90	$15 to $50
House lockout	$166 to $192	$85 to $195	$75 to $150
Car lockout	$166 to $192	$45 to $135	$75 to $175
Rekey	$191 to $225$18 to $25 per keyhole	$20 to $50per lock, plus the visit	$20 to $50per lock

Look at the rekey row. The per-lock prices match in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Thumbtack's $191 to $225 looks like a different planet because it's priced as a whole job. If someone quotes you "$20 to rekey," ask what the whole visit comes to.

What a Locksmith Shop Has to Bring In

The 2022 Economic Census counted 3,983 locksmith shops with payroll in the US. They sold an average of $659,519 each, with about 4.4 people per shop3. Payroll took 29.5% of sales. So for every $1 of pay, a shop brought in $3.39.

That 3.39 is the shop multiple. Multiply it by today's $26.67 average locksmith wage2 and you get $90.40. We call that a shop hour. It's what has to come in the door for each hour a locksmith is paid, and it has to cover the parts, the van, the office, and the owner.

A shop hour isn't a rate anyone will quote you. Thumbtack lists locksmith hourly rates at $57 to $874, and that's for the work itself. Ours has parts in it, and it counts every hour on the clock, including the drive and the wait for the next call.

Why a Five-Minute Lockout Costs What It Does

Thumbtack says a skilled tech can open a car door in a few minutes4. At $180, that can feel steep. Now run it through the shop hour: a $166 to $192 lockout is 1.8 to 2.1 US shop hours. You're paying for the truck coming to you and the time around the job, not the minutes at your door.

Las Vegas is a good test because I can use our own published range. Our site lists house lockouts at $85 to $1956. Nevada's shop hour is $72, so that's 1.2 to 2.7 shop hours.

The Highest and Lowest States

Connecticut comes out on top at $136 a shop hour. New Mexico is lowest at $60. Pay drives a lot of that, but not all. California pays $32.30 and comes out at $105. New York pays less, $30.01, and still lands at $106 because its multiple is higher3.

Nevada, where I work, has the third-lowest multiple among the ranked states at 2.88x, with 54 shops in the Census count3. That puts it at $72, well under the US number.

Test Your Own Quote

Pick your state and type in your quote. You'll see how many shop hours it equals. A quote of 2 shop hours for a lockout lines up with the national prices above. A lockout quote of 8 needs a good explanation.

Here's a worked example: $180 is 2.5 shop hours in Nevada, 2.7 in Texas, 1.9 in Florida and 1.7 in California. The same price means something different depending on where you're standing.

How to Get a Price That Holds

1. Get the whole price on the phone. Describe the lock or the car, where you are and what happened. On our site we tell people a real Las Vegas locksmith gives the full price before anyone is dispatched6. The FTC also says to get information about the person, the price and the business when you call8.
2. Watch out for a low teaser number. A price that only covers the service call is a warning sign6. Thumbtack puts the trip alone at $30 to $1504, so a quote at the bottom of that range doesn't include the work.
3. Ask about after-hours. Our Las Vegas range adds $25 to $75 for nights, weekends and holidays6. Thumbtack puts an emergency call at $150 to $2504.
4. Ask for ID and the license. The FTC says to ask for the locksmith's identification and business card, and to see the license or registration if your state requires one. Its guide, in a copy archived in 2020, says fifteen states require locksmiths to be licensed or registered8. Ours is City of Las Vegas license P64-00012. More on this in How to Avoid Locksmith Scams in Las Vegas.
5. Price the rekey against new locks. Rekeying keeps your hardware and stops the old keys from working. Our site has it at $20 to $50 per lock plus the visit, against $100 to $300 for a new deadbolt6. I went through the choice in Is It Cheaper to Replace Locks or Rekey?

Every State

Locksmith pay is the May 2025 mean wage, with the 25th to 75th percentile under it1. Shop multiple is the state's 2022 locksmith shop sales divided by payroll, with its number of shops under it3. Shop hour is pay times multiple, with the same multiple applied to the 25th and 75th percentile wages under it.

State	Locksmith pay per hour	Shop multiple	Shop hour
Alabama	$21.02$18 to $23	3.17x57 shops	$67$57 to $74
Alaska	$31.99$24 to $39	n/a10 shops	Too little data
Arizona	$23.64$18 to $27	3.37x83 shops	$80$62 to $91
Arkansas	$18.62$14 to $22	3.26x28 shops	$61$46 to $73
California	$32.30$24 to $39	3.24x498 shops	$105$78 to $125
Colorado	$24.26$21 to $27	3.40x95 shops	$82$71 to $91
Connecticut	$33.54$27 to $38	4.05x36 shops	$136$111 to $153
Delaware	$31.29$23 to $42	n/a8 shops	Too little data
District of Columbia	$37.65$35 to $41	n/a5 shops	Too little data
Florida	$26.98$19 to $30	3.50x454 shops	$94$67 to $106
Georgia	$25.45$19 to $32	3.45x128 shops	$88$67 to $111
Hawaii	$26.96$15 to $35	3.28x23 shops	$88$48 to $116
Idaho	$21.26$18 to $23	3.67x20 shops	$78$65 to $83
Illinois	$27.79$18 to $32	3.18x142 shops	$88$57 to $100
Indiana	$22.80$18 to $27	2.93x72 shops	$67$52 to $80
Iowa	$23.66$18 to $28	3.33x34 shops	$79$61 to $92
Kansas	$25.26$21 to $29	3.38x26 shops	$85$70 to $98
Kentucky	$25.46$22 to $29	4.73x26 shops	$120Not ranked
Louisiana	$24.88$19 to $29	3.04x60 shops	$76$58 to $88
Maine	$26.23$22 to $30	3.27x20 shops	$86$72 to $96
Maryland	$29.83$25 to $33	3.38x86 shops	$101$85 to $113
Massachusetts	$32.46$26 to $40	3.14x86 shops	$102$82 to $125
Michigan	$24.78$18 to $31	3.73x82 shops	$92$68 to $114
Minnesota	$27.99$23 to $31	3.47x47 shops	$97$79 to $107
Mississippi	$20.87$17 to $24	3.14x25 shops	$66$54 to $74
Missouri	$26.72$22 to $29	2.92x60 shops	$78$65 to $85
Montana	$26.89$22 to $32	n/a17 shops	Too little data
Nebraska	$24.08$22 to $27	3.15x28 shops	$76$68 to $84
Nevada	$25.01$22 to $28	2.88x54 shops	$72$65 to $80
New Hampshire	$25.17$19 to $29	n/a8 shops	Too little data
New Jersey	$28.57$23 to $33	3.11x89 shops	$89$71 to $104
New Mexico	$21.15$14 to $24	2.84x28 shops	$60$41 to $68
New York	$30.01$23 to $33	3.54x339 shops	$106$80 to $118
North Carolina	$22.09$16 to $28	3.42x117 shops	$76$55 to $96
North Dakota	$22.82$18 to $25	n/a12 shops	Too little data
Ohio	$23.11$18 to $29	4.29x96 shops	$99$79 to $123
Oklahoma	$20.84$15 to $24	2.98x35 shops	$62$45 to $72
Oregon	$28.37$23 to $30	3.11x60 shops	$88$71 to $93
Pennsylvania	$27.54$22 to $34	3.55x109 shops	$98$78 to $122
Rhode Island	$29.59$25 to $36	n/a14 shops	Too little data
South Carolina	$24.63$18 to $33	3.84x61 shops	$95$70 to $127
South Dakota	BLS has no figure	n/a5 shops	Too little data
Tennessee	$25.69$19 to $31	3.38x73 shops	$87$65 to $105
Texas	$20.29$17 to $24	3.32x318 shops	$67$58 to $80
Utah	$26.25$23 to $30	3.22x39 shops	$85$74 to $95
Vermont	BLS has no figure	n/a4 shops	Too little data
Virginia	$26.99$22 to $32	2.84x102 shops	$77$63 to $90
Washington	$28.64$23 to $33	3.28x93 shops	$94$76 to $107
West Virginia	$30.74$22 to $42	n/a11 shops	Too little data
Wisconsin	$25.47$21 to $29	3.53x55 shops	$90$73 to $104
Wyoming	BLS has no figure	n/a5 shops	Too little data
United States	$26.67$21 to $31	3.39x3,983 shops	$90$70 to $105

Alaska, Delaware, District of Columbia, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, West Virginia have fewer than 20 shops in the Census count, so one business could set the multiple, and we don't give them a shop hour. BLS publishes no locksmith wage for South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming. Kentucky is shown but not ranked: its 26 shops averaged $3,055,769 in sales, against $659,519 for the US, so its multiple of 4.73x says more about a few very large shops than about what a homeowner pays. Ohio also runs big at $1,624,000 a shop, so read its 4.29x with that in mind.

The Biggest Metro Areas

This list uses Census figures only, so it shows sales and multiples for every metro with at least 30 shops. Sales per worker is 2022 sales divided by everyone on payroll3. San Jose, CA is highest at $201,895 and Riverside, CA is lowest at $93,570. Las Vegas has 34 shops at $131,064 per worker and a 2.76x multiple.

Metro	Shops	Sales per worker	Shop multiple
New York, NY	349	$166,721	3.56x
Los Angeles, CA	183	$158,972	3.40x
Miami, FL	174	$157,714	3.99x
Chicago, IL	114	$150,694	3.18x
Dallas, TX	90	$156,682	3.19x
Atlanta, GA	81	$172,464	3.51x
Washington, DC	78	$162,804	2.87x
Tampa, FL	74	$130,524	3.30x
Houston, TX	71	$138,894	3.51x
Philadelphia, PA	69	$153,545	3.37x
San Francisco, CA	69	$152,561	2.90x
Boston, MA	65	$157,704	3.00x
Orlando, FL	56	$154,107	3.62x
Phoenix, AZ	53	$99,928	3.45x
Seattle, WA	53	$150,716	3.27x
San Diego, CA	49	$133,533	2.73x
Denver, CO	42	$164,076	3.37x
Baltimore, MD	41	$165,479	3.50x
Riverside, CA	41	$93,570	2.73x
Detroit, MI	40	$141,829	3.43x
Charlotte, NC	39	$145,519	3.40x
St. Louis, MO	37	$134,524	3.14x
San Jose, CA	36	$201,895	4.13x
Las Vegas, NV	34	$131,064	2.76x
Minneapolis, MN	33	$181,433	3.47x
Portland, OR	32	$151,432	3.05x
San Antonio, TX	30	$190,710	4.48x

How We Got These Numbers

We used two federal files. The Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 wage survey gives locksmith pay for each state1 and the US2. The 2022 Economic Census, the newest one, gives sales, payroll, employees and shop counts for locksmith businesses with payroll3. Published job prices come from the guides cited next to them.

As a check, we ran the US math without BLS at all. Census sales per worker were $151,160 in 2022, which is $72.67 an hour across a 2,080-hour full-time year. That's lower than our $90.40, which is what you'd expect: it's in 2022 dollars, and the Census head count includes office staff and part-timers, who pull the per-worker figure down.

Four things to keep in mind. The multiple is from 2022 and we assume it has held, because the next Economic Census isn't out yet. Sales include parts and commercial work, so a shop heavy on access control or car keys will run differently from one doing house lockouts. The Census file leaves out one-person shops with no payroll. And the BLS wage covers locksmiths in every industry, not only those at locksmith shops.