How Much to Pay a Dispatcher at a Trades Company in 2026

How much do dispatchers make?

The national median wage for dispatchers outside emergency services was $24.20 an hour in May 2025. That comes from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for SOC 43-5032, which counts about 202,810 of them across trucking, utilities, delivery, transit, towing and the trades. The spread is wide: a dispatcher at the 90th percentile earns more than twice what one at the 10th percentile does.

Do trades shops pay dispatchers less than trucking companies?

Yes, a little. BLS counts 17,050 dispatchers at specialty trade contractors, with a median of $23.26, about a dollar under the all-industry figure. Trucking companies employ twice as many dispatchers and pay a median of $27.41, which is why the national number runs higher than what most home service shops pay. If you're hiring someone with freight dispatch experience, expect them to ask for more.

What do dispatchers earn in your state?

Location moves dispatcher pay more than industry does. Among states, medians range from $21.12 an hour in South Dakota to $28.53 in Washington, and Minnesota is close behind Washington. Use your state's median as the midpoint of your range and go higher in big metros, where you're competing with logistics companies for the same people.

How should you structure dispatcher pay?

Pay an hourly wage and, if you add a bonus, tie it to what a dispatcher actually controls: how full and how efficient the technicians' days are. Paying on revenue rewards things the dispatcher can't influence, like a big replacement sale. Paying on completed jobs per tech-day or on a low rate of rescheduled jobs points them at good routing and tight communication.

Is a dispatcher exempt from overtime?

Usually not. An hourly dispatcher is generally non-exempt, so the FLSA requires time and a half for hours over 40 in a workweek. A salaried dispatch manager can be exempt only if they meet the salary level and the duties test, such as managing a department and regularly directing at least two full-time employees; the DOL fact sheet lists a $684-a-week salary level. On-call rules matter too: if a dispatcher has to stay near the phone and can't use the time freely, those hours may count as work. State law can be stricter. This is general information, not legal advice; check the DOL pages linked below and your state labor department.

What does a dispatcher really cost?

On top of the wage, you'll pay employer payroll taxes, state unemployment, workers' comp, benefits and the tools: a second monitor, scheduling software seat, phone line and maybe a GPS fleet subscription. Busy-season overtime adds more. The example below runs the specialty-trade median through the payroll cost calculator with 2 hours of overtime a week, averaged over the year.

What has to happen for that to pay off? With six technicians, even a small gain in technician utilization covers a lot. One extra completed job per tech per week at a $350 average ticket is $2,100 a week, more than the dispatcher's cost of about $1,258 a week. The technician utilization calculator shows where your board stands today.

What should you automate before you hire a dispatcher?

Automate the parts of dispatch that follow rules, and hire a person for the parts that need judgment. Software is good at proposing which tech fits a job by skill and location, sending on-the-way texts, confirming tomorrow's appointments and answering the 7 p.m. call. A person is better at reading a tech's mood at 3 p.m., deciding which customer can wait when an emergency hits, and smoothing over a missed window.

Ready to hire?

Start with the dispatcher job description, read when to hire a dispatcher, and brush up on how dispatching works. If the role will also answer phones, compare with CSR pay, since many small shops combine the two.