Laminate Flooring Labor Cost in 2026
Labor to install laminate flooring costs $2.00 to $3.00 per sq ft, as Home Depot publishes it, and $2.49 per sq ft for its basic click-lock installation (checked 13 October 2026). That is $800 to $1,200 for 400 sq ft and $2,000 to $3,000 for 1,000 sq ft, before removal of the old floor. The installers themselves earn a mean $29.69 an hour (BLS, May 2025).
Updated 14 October 2026. How we priced this.
Labor Cost by Job Size
Home Depot's published rate applied to common floor sizes. Labour is charged on the floor area, not on the planks bought for waste.
| Floor | Labour at $2.00 to $3.00 | At $2.49 basic click-lock | Full laminate cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft | $200 to $300 | $249 | 100 sq ft laminate cost |
| 200 sq ft | $400 to $600 | $498 | 200 sq ft laminate cost |
| 400 sq ft | $800 to $1,200 | $996 | 400 sq ft laminate cost |
| 500 sq ft | $1,000 to $1,500 | $1,245 | 500 sq ft laminate cost |
| 1,000 sq ft | $2,000 to $3,000 | $2,490 | 1,000 sq ft laminate cost |
| 1,500 sq ft | $3,000 to $4,500 | $3,735 | 1,500 sq ft laminate cost |
| 2,000 sq ft | $4,000 to $6,000 | $4,980 | 2,000 sq ft laminate cost |
What the Labor Rate Covers, and What It Does Not
| Work | In the per-sq-ft labour rate? | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| Laying and cutting click-lock planks | Yes: Home Depot's basic installation; other services are priced separately | $2.00 to $3.00/sq ft |
| Underlayment, moldings and trim | Home Depot says its laminate installation project includes the measure, underlayment and installation, with moldings and trims | In the project price |
| Removing the old floor | No, Home Depot prices it separately | $1.95/sq ft average |
| Moving furniture | No, an additional fee | $35 for up to six large pieces |
| Subfloor levelling or repair | No | Quoted per job |
| Stairs | No | Quoted per step; see stairs |
When a quote gives one labour number, ask which of these lines it includes. The difference between two quotes is usually there, not in the per-square-foot rate.
Laminate Labor Cost by State
Our estimate: Home Depot's national range scaled by each state's BLS May 2025 mean wage for floor layers. States are sorted from highest wage to lowest.
| State | BLS mean wage | Labour per sq ft (est.) | 400 sq ft (est.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $41.97/hr | $2.83 to $4.24 | $1,132 to $1,696 |
| Alaska | $41.94/hr | $2.83 to $4.24 | $1,132 to $1,696 |
| New Jersey | $38.56/hr | $2.60 to $3.90 | $1,040 to $1,560 |
| Hawaii | $37.33/hr | $2.51 to $3.77 | $1,004 to $1,508 |
| Illinois | $34.82/hr | $2.35 to $3.52 | $940 to $1,408 |
| California | $33.99/hr | $2.29 to $3.44 | $916 to $1,376 |
| New York | $32.85/hr | $2.21 to $3.32 | $884 to $1,328 |
| Minnesota | $32.53/hr | $2.19 to $3.29 | $876 to $1,316 |
| Pennsylvania | $31.21/hr | $2.10 to $3.15 | $840 to $1,260 |
| Washington | $29.93/hr | $2.02 to $3.02 | $808 to $1,208 |
| Ohio | $28.74/hr | $1.94 to $2.90 | $776 to $1,160 |
| Oregon | $28.67/hr | $1.93 to $2.90 | $772 to $1,160 |
| Nevada | $28.61/hr | $1.93 to $2.89 | $772 to $1,156 |
| Wisconsin | $28.43/hr | $1.92 to $2.87 | $768 to $1,148 |
| Florida | $28.32/hr | $1.91 to $2.86 | $764 to $1,144 |
| Missouri | $28.02/hr | $1.89 to $2.83 | $756 to $1,132 |
| Utah | $27.68/hr | $1.86 to $2.80 | $744 to $1,120 |
| South Dakota | $27.18/hr | $1.83 to $2.75 | $732 to $1,100 |
| Vermont | $26.83/hr | $1.81 to $2.71 | $724 to $1,084 |
| Virginia | $26.77/hr | $1.80 to $2.71 | $720 to $1,084 |
| Kentucky | $26.51/hr | $1.79 to $2.68 | $716 to $1,072 |
| New Mexico | $26.17/hr | $1.76 to $2.64 | $704 to $1,056 |
| Colorado | $25.94/hr | $1.75 to $2.62 | $700 to $1,048 |
| Iowa | $25.75/hr | $1.73 to $2.60 | $692 to $1,040 |
| Maine | $25.64/hr | $1.73 to $2.59 | $692 to $1,036 |
| Connecticut | $25.43/hr | $1.71 to $2.57 | $684 to $1,028 |
| North Carolina | $25.25/hr | $1.70 to $2.55 | $680 to $1,020 |
| North Dakota | $25.14/hr | $1.69 to $2.54 | $676 to $1,016 |
| Michigan | $24.57/hr | $1.66 to $2.48 | $664 to $992 |
| Indiana | $24.32/hr | $1.64 to $2.46 | $656 to $984 |
| Georgia | $24.09/hr | $1.62 to $2.43 | $648 to $972 |
| Tennessee | $23.84/hr | $1.61 to $2.41 | $644 to $964 |
| South Carolina | $23.80/hr | $1.60 to $2.41 | $640 to $964 |
| Maryland | $23.76/hr | $1.60 to $2.40 | $640 to $960 |
| West Virginia | $23.40/hr | $1.58 to $2.36 | $632 to $944 |
| Kansas | $23.15/hr | $1.56 to $2.34 | $624 to $936 |
| Mississippi | $22.96/hr | $1.55 to $2.32 | $620 to $928 |
| Arizona | $22.48/hr | $1.51 to $2.27 | $604 to $908 |
| Oklahoma | $22.48/hr | $1.51 to $2.27 | $604 to $908 |
| Texas | $21.45/hr | $1.44 to $2.17 | $576 to $868 |
| Alabama | $21.03/hr | $1.42 to $2.12 | $568 to $848 |
| Louisiana | $20.41/hr | $1.37 to $2.06 | $548 to $824 |
| Montana | $19.74/hr | $1.33 to $2.00 | $532 to $800 |
| Arkansas | $19.60/hr | $1.32 to $1.98 | $528 to $792 |
BLS publishes no May 2025 estimate for this occupation in Delaware, DC, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wyoming, and suppresses Idaho's wage.
What Installers Earn, and Why the Rate Is Higher
| BLS May 2025, floor layers (47-2042) | Hourly |
|---|---|
| Lowest-paid 10% | under $18.08 |
| Median | $27.15 |
| Mean | $29.69 |
| Highest-paid 10% | over $46.49 |
| Employed nationally | 23,640 |
A wage is not a billed rate. In construction, employers paid $51.96 an hour in total compensation for every $36.13 in wages (BLS, June 2026), so an installer at the mean wage costs the employer about $42.70 an hour before insurance, vehicles, tools, overhead and profit. On top of that, flooring contractors billed about 4.45 dollars of work (after materials and subcontracts) for each dollar of construction-worker wages in the 2022 Economic Census.
Common Questions
How much is labor to install laminate flooring per square foot?
$2.00 to $3.00 per sq ft, as Home Depot publishes it, and $2.49 per sq ft for basic click-lock installation, with additional services priced separately (checked 13 October 2026).
What is the labor cost to install 400 square feet of laminate?
$800 to $1,200 at Home Depot's published rate, or $996 at its basic click-lock rate. Removing the old floor (about $780 at Home Depot's average) and moving furniture are extra.
What is the labor cost to install 1,000 square feet of laminate?
$2,000 to $3,000 at $2.00 to $3.00 per sq ft. We found no retailer or installer that publishes a lower rate for larger jobs.
How much do laminate floor installers make an hour?
Floor layers (BLS occupation 47-2042, which covers laminate) earned a mean $29.69 an hour and a median $27.15 in May 2025; the lowest-paid tenth earned under $18.08 and the highest-paid tenth over $46.49. A contractor's billed rate is higher than the wage: it also carries benefits, insurance, travel, equipment and profit.
Which state has the highest laminate labor cost?
Measured by the BLS mean wage for floor layers, Massachusetts ($41.97 an hour) is highest and Arkansas ($19.60) lowest of the states BLS publishes. Scaling Home Depot's national rate by those wages gives about $2.83 to $4.24 per sq ft in Massachusetts and $1.32 to $1.98 in Arkansas. That is our estimate; local quotes vary.
How much is labor to install laminate on stairs?
About $41 to $61 a step by our estimate. No retailer, manufacturer or government source publishes a per-step labour price, so the stairs guide shows the working from BLS wages and the 2022 Economic Census.