Asphalt driveway cost in Jackson, MS

Jackson labor market for asphalt driveway

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 3 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Jackson is 0.83 times the national level.

For paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators (47-2071, weighted 40%) the local median is $22.32 an hour, which is 13% below the national $25.64. The middle half of them earn between $18.31 and $25.42 an hour. BLS counts 60 of them working in the area, 2.2 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 2.7), so the local bench is thinner than average.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 30% of the weighting: a median of $18.20 an hour, 20% below the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $16.61 and $22.26 an hour. About 2,020 work in the metro. That is 74.6 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so the supply of crews looks typical.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 30%) the local median is $22.76 an hour, which is 21% below the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $19.00 and $26.92 an hour. BLS counts 870 of them working in the area, 32.1 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is about average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($25.42 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $100. At the 25th percentile ($18.31) it shrinks by about $130. The total moves by 2.2% or 2.8%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 270,730 jobs in the Jackson area. That makes it the 96th largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 0.17% of US employment.

Is Jackson cheap or dear? The local comparison

Same job, same size (600 sq ft), priced for the nearest metros. Baton Rouge is the priciest of the group at $5,100. Hattiesburg is the cheapest at $4,550.

Across 300 US metros, Jackson comes in at #259 from the top. The priciest is Kahului, HI at $7,650; the cheapest is Fort Smith, AR at $4,450 (midpoints, 600 sq ft). Statewide, Jackson is 3% above the Mississippi figure.

Other Mississippi metros

Cities with a workforce like Jackson's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Jackson against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Specs and site conditions that change a Jackson bid

• Base work

  Four to eight inches of compacted aggregate under the asphalt is where cheap quotes cut corners. Base typically runs $1-$3 per sq ft.

• Small jobs cost more per foot

  Paving crews move a paver, roller and trucks to your address, so a 400 sq ft driveway carries more mobilization per square foot than a 1,000 sq ft one.

• Hot-mix price

  Hot-mix asphalt is $100-$200 per ton delivered and moves with oil prices (PaveGauge).

Climate in Jackson: timing your asphalt driveway job

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Jackson Hawkins Fld (5 miles from the city center). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

September through May is the stretch where digging, grading and setting material in the ground runs into the fewest weather problems in Jackson (9 of 12 months). June, July and August have an average daytime high of 90°F or more.

Jackson gets about 51 inches of precipitation in a normal year. The wettest months are January, March and April (5.3 inches in April). Inside the workable window, September and October are the driest, at 3.3 and 3.6 inches. The station averages about 83 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.

Related projects, priced for Jackson

Because every project leans on different trades, Jackson's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, concrete slab runs −11% and concrete driveway −15%.

Optional extras in Jackson

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Jackson by the average of the local wage index (0.83) and goods index (0.96), a factor of 0.89. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Cost by quality level and size in Jackson

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Jackson wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.