Home / Deck building cost / Worcester, MA
Worcester · Worcester County · labor +20.5%
Deck building cost in Worcester, MA
A 320 sq ft deck in pressure-treated pine deck comes to about $8,700 to $17,450 in Worcester once the national installed price is adjusted for what carpenters earn locally. The city's fee schedule has no separate line for it, but its general residential rate puts the permit at $168 for a job at the midpoint.
Figures checked October 21, 2026 · sources
- 1Pressure-treated, 320 sq ft $8,700–$17,450
- 2Labor index +20.5% vs US
- 3Worcester permit $168
Change size or material All Worcester projects
Deck building prices in Worcester by material
Each row starts from the installed price per square foot of deck published in a national cost guide, then moves only the labor part of that price by Worcester's labor index. For 320 sq ft:
| Material | National | Worcester | Midpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pressure-treated pine deck | $8,000–$16,000 | $8,700–$17,450 | $13,100 |
| Cedar deck | $9,600–$15,050 | $10,300–$16,500 | $13,400 |
| Composite deck | $12,800–$25,600 | $13,500–$27,050 | $20,300 |
By size
| Deck area (sq ft) | Worcester estimate | Permit at midpoint |
|---|---|---|
| 144 sq ft | $3,950–$7,850 | $100 |
| 240 sq ft | $6,550–$13,100 | $120 |
| 320 sq ft | $8,700–$17,450 | $168 |
| 400 sq ft | $10,900–$21,800 | $204 |
Pressure-treated pine deck.
Permit fee in Worcester
General rate The fee schedule has no separate line for this work; the town's general residential building-permit rate is shown as what it would charge if the building department requires a permit for it.
“$12.00 per $1,000.00 or fraction thereof of construction value”
“$9.00 per $1,000.00 over $1,000,000) Minimum $100.00”
Applied to a 320 sq ft deck estimated at $8,700 to $17,450, that gives $108 to $216, about 1.28% of the midpoint price. Among the 21 towns on this site whose schedules cover this work, Worcester ranks 18 from the cheapest; Goffstown is lowest at $40 and Hartford highest at $413.38 for its own midpoint job.
Schedule: City of Worcester, Department of Inspectional Services, Schedule of Fees (Building Permits) (effective March 1, 2024 (cover page)). The building department decides whether a permit is required and what valuation it accepts; the national guide puts deck permits at $50–$150.
Why Worcester differs from the national price
Worcester is in Worcester County, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in the Worcester, MA metropolitan area. The median wage there for carpenters is $35.10 an hour against $29.12 nationally, so the labor part of a national price is scaled by 1.205 (+20.5%).
On this job the labor portion is $3,500 to $7,050 at national rates and $4,250 to $8,500 at Worcester rates, so the midpoint rises $1,100 above the national figure. Against the Massachusetts statewide wage it is $190 lower. Materials are priced at the national figure: shingle, lumber and equipment prices are set by distributors, not by a town.
A second published benchmark points the same way for the region: Remodeling's 2025 Cost vs Value report prices its “Deck Addition, Wood” job at $18,250 nationally and $20,600 in New England, and its “Deck Addition, Composite” job at $25,100 nationally and $25,800 in New England. Those are fixed specification jobs, not per-square-foot prices, so they are shown for comparison only.
Worcester at a glance
The Census Bureau estimates 213,862 people lived in Worcester on July 1, 2025, up 3.6% from the 206,518 counted in the 2020 census. On 37.36 square miles of land that is 5,528 people per square mile in 2020, among the densest places on this site (3 of 24); dense Massachusetts city blocks mean small lots, shared walls and street parking that crews price into access and staging.
42.8% of Worcester's occupied homes are lived in by their owners, fewer than the 62.5% across Massachusetts, and the median owner-occupied home is valued at $374,400 (Massachusetts: $562,100). The midpoint estimate for this deck works out to 3.5% of that median value.
Before asking for quotes
- The Worcester building department can say for free whether this job needs a permit and what it will cost; the schedule linked above is its own published document.
- Written quotes that list the same scope (area, material line, removal, disposal, permit) can be compared line by line; the quote comparison guide walks through it with these numbers.
- A quote far below $8,700 or above $17,450 is not wrong in itself, but it is worth asking what it includes or leaves out.
Other projects in Worcester
Roof replacement cost in Worcester · Siding replacement cost in Worcester
Deck building in nearby towns
| Town | Labor area | Estimate | Permit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnstead | Central NH | $8,050–$16,100 | $50 |
| Conway | Northern NH | $8,050–$16,100 | $219 |
| Derry | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | $8,850–$17,700 | $50 |
| Durham | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | $8,850–$17,700 | $142.94 |
| Exeter | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | $8,850–$17,700 | $116.38 |
More: all deck building town pages · deck building cost in Massachusetts · permit fees by town · labor costs in New Hampshire
Sources
- Installed price: HomeGuide: Cost to build a deck (Feb 10, 2026) — “Pressure-treated pine $25 – $50 (installed, per sq ft)”.
- Labor portion: HomeGuide: Cost to build a deck (Feb 10, 2026) — “The labor cost to build a new deck is $11 to $22 per square foot.”.
- Labor index: O*NET OnLine, Carpenters (47-2031.00), New Hampshire local wages; area definitions: BLS, May 2025 Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Area Definitions.
- Permit: City of Worcester, Department of Inspectional Services, Schedule of Fees (Building Permits).
- Population: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: population estimates July 1, 2025 (V2025), 2020 census, land area and density; housing: Census QuickFacts, Worcester.
All figures checked October 21, 2026. Estimates are ranges built from published averages, not quotes; a contractor's price depends on the house, access, the season and the scope written into the quote. Cost by Town does not perform or arrange work.