Data checked · source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
How much does it cost to install a sump pump?
Dropping a new pump into an existing pit is an hour or two. Cutting a new pit into a concrete basement floor is a different job with a different number.
Expect roughly $676 to $8,329 to install a submersible sump pump in the United States in 2026. The labour half of that is 1–8 hours at a billed rate of about $68–$98 an hour, which is what the US median plumber wage of $30.67 works out to once a shop covers burden, overhead and profit.
Where the money actually goes
This is the same quote, taken apart. Every line is a real price from a real listing or a published fee schedule, not a number we made up.
| Line | Low | High | What decides it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | $350 | $4,000 | Which unit you pick. The table below lists them. |
| Parts and fittings | $209 | $3,297 | Most jobs need some of the parts list, not all of it. |
| Labour (1–8 hr) | $68 | $783 | Hours × billed rate. Varies by metro — see below. |
| Permit | $50 | $250 | Set by your city. Median $100. |
| Disposal | $0 | $0 | The old pump is small enough to go out with household waste in most places.. |
| Total | $676 | $8,329 |
The low column assumes a straightforward job with the cheapest listed equipment; the high column assumes the full parts list, the top of the labour range and the most expensive permit jurisdiction we measured. Most real quotes land in the middle.
What the equipment costs
| Option | Unit price |
|---|---|
| Replace pump in an existing pit | $350–$1,000 |
| New install including a new pit | $1,200–$3,000 |
| Crawlspace or exterior install | $1,500–$4,000 |
Source: This Old House — sump pump cost, checked August 6, 2026.
Specific products, with the price we saw
Not a recommendation and not an affiliate link. These are the listings we checked on August 6, 2026, so you can see whether the equipment line on your quote is close to retail.
Retail prices move. If one of these is wrong now, tell us and we will fix it with the date.
Parts list
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Check valve, 1-1/2 in PVC | $15.30–$52.50 |
| Sump basin, 18 x 22 in to 18 x 30 in | $67.65–$152.25 |
| Basin cover, 18 in steel with discharge grommet | $58.50 |
| Battery backup pump — water powered to 12V with WiFi | $230.25–$1,033.50 |
| Discharge piping — above ground $150-$400, buried $250-$2,000 | $150.00–$2,000.00 |
What this job costs in 49 US metro areas
Materials cost roughly the same everywhere. Labour does not. The wage column is US government data; the labour column is that wage run through our published multiplier; the total applies it to the job above. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara comes out 8% higher than Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater on the same work.
| Metro area | Plumber wage | Labour on this job | Estimated total |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $51.71 | $276 | $723–$8,866 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | $49.70 | $265 | $719–$8,815 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $48.86 | $261 | $717–$8,794 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $48.56 | $259 | $716–$8,786 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $46.52 | $248 | $711–$8,734 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $45.78 | $244 | $710–$8,715 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | $41.53 | $222 | $700–$8,607 |
| Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI | $40.72 | $217 | $699–$8,586 |
| Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | $38.37 | $205 | $693–$8,526 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $37.79 | $202 | $692–$8,511 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $37.44 | $200 | $691–$8,502 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $37.11 | $198 | $691–$8,494 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | $37.02 | $198 | $690–$8,492 |
| Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN | $37.01 | $198 | $690–$8,491 |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | $36.61 | $195 | $690–$8,481 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | $35.99 | $192 | $688–$8,465 |
| Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | $35.91 | $192 | $688–$8,463 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | $34.86 | $186 | $686–$8,436 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $34.55 | $184 | $685–$8,428 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | $34.19 | $183 | $684–$8,419 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | $33.70 | $180 | $683–$8,407 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | $31.35 | $167 | $678–$8,347 |
| Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN | $31.33 | $167 | $678–$8,346 |
| Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $31.15 | $166 | $678–$8,342 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | $30.73 | $164 | $677–$8,331 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $30.72 | $164 | $677–$8,331 |
| Albuquerque, NM | $30.72 | $164 | $677–$8,331 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $30.65 | $164 | $676–$8,329 |
| Columbus, OH | $30.41 | $162 | $676–$8,323 |
| Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | $30.38 | $162 | $676–$8,322 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $30.20 | $161 | $675–$8,317 |
| New Orleans-Metairie, LA | $30.03 | $160 | $675–$8,313 |
| Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $29.75 | $159 | $674–$8,306 |
| Richmond, VA | $29.56 | $158 | $674–$8,301 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | $29.47 | $157 | $674–$8,299 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | $29.45 | $157 | $674–$8,298 |
| Raleigh-Cary, NC | $29.10 | $155 | $673–$8,289 |
| Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | $28.90 | $154 | $673–$8,284 |
| Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | $28.70 | $153 | $672–$8,279 |
| Oklahoma City, OK | $28.44 | $152 | $672–$8,273 |
| Jacksonville, FL | $28.33 | $151 | $671–$8,270 |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $28.22 | $151 | $671–$8,267 |
| Memphis, TN-MS-AR | $28.22 | $151 | $671–$8,267 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $28.07 | $150 | $671–$8,263 |
| San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX | $27.97 | $149 | $670–$8,261 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | $27.77 | $148 | $670–$8,255 |
| Charleston-North Charleston, SC | $27.58 | $147 | $670–$8,251 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | $26.62 | $142 | $668–$8,226 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $25.00 | $134 | $664–$8,185 |
Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 47-2152 — public domain. Metros where BLS suppressed the figure are left out rather than estimated. Totals are FieldPricing calculations from the parts and hours on this page — they are not quotes and no contractor has agreed to them.
What did you actually pay?
Everything above this line is arithmetic on public data. It is honest, and it is not the same thing as a real invoice. If you have had this work done, the number on your invoice is worth more to the next reader than anything we can calculate.
No reports on this job yet. This site went up in August 2026 and nobody has sent one in. We would rather show you an empty table than invent entries to look established.
When reports come in, they get published here with the amount, the city and the month — never a name, never an email.
No account, no login, no newsletter. A person reads every submission before it appears, so it will not show up instantly. If we cannot make sense of one, we leave it out rather than guess — and if you would rather just email it, that works too.
What actually moves the price
Existing pit or not
The whole question. An existing pit means a 1-2 hour pump swap. No pit means breaking a concrete floor, and This Old House puts concrete breakout at $2,500-$5,000 on the high end.
Finished basement
A finished basement costs significantly more, because the floor, walls and any framing in the way have to come apart and go back.
Discharge run
Code and common sense put the discharge at least 10 feet from the foundation, sloping away. Above ground that is $150-$400 of pipe; buried it is $250-$2,000.
Battery backup
$230-$1,034 for the unit, $1,000-$2,000 installed. A sump pump that fails during the power cut that caused the flood is not a sump pump.
Dual pumps or multiple pits
$2,000-$4,000 and up. Common in houses with a high water table where one pump cannot keep up.
What we could not verify
We publish this list because a cost page that never admits a gap is not telling you the truth.
- Per-stick price of 1-1/2 in Schedule 40 PVC discharge pipe — SupplyHouse and Home Depot did not render a price to our fetch.
- Whether a permit is mandatory for a like-for-like pump replacement — this is entirely jurisdiction-dependent and we could not verify a general rule.
How we got these numbers
- Wages — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 47-2152 (Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters), pulled through the BLS public API. US federal data, public domain.
- Billed rate — wage × 1.3 labour burden × 1.70–2.45 overhead and profit, so 2.21×–3.19× the wage. Our assumption, published in full on the methodology page so you can disagree with it.
- Equipment and parts — retailer and supply-house listings, each linked above, checked 2026-08-06.
- Labour hours — HowLongFor — install a sump pump · RateYourPlumber — sump pump installation cost.
- Permit fees — Angi — sump pump installation cost.
We do not use RSMeans or Craftsman cost data. Their licences forbid building a database from them, so every number here traces to a public source or a public listing you can open yourself.
This page is not a quote. It is arithmetic on public data. Get it in writing from a licensed contractor before you spend anything. If a number here is wrong, tell us — we log every correction with the date.