How much do welders make in 2026?
Welders earn a national median of $53,750 a year ($25.84 an hour) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 51-4121), with the bottom 10% near $39,240 and the top 10% at $77,530. The occupation is enormous and its pay range is comparatively narrow, which tells you something important: a production welder in a fabrication shop and a coded welder on a refinery turnaround share one occupational code, and most of the difference between them is industry and mobility rather than skill. Shop production work sits in the lower half of the band; structural steel, shipbuilding and pipe work sit higher; and the welders who exceed the published top decile are usually travelling rig or turnaround welders whose earnings come from per-diem, overtime and pay-by-the-hour on continuous shifts. Certification to a procedure is what unlocks the better-paid work. Employment is projected to grow 2.2% through 2034 with roughly 45,600 openings a year. → Full welder career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $53,750 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Welders earn a national median $53,750/yr ($25.84/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 51-4121); the P10 to P90 range is $39,240 to $77,530.
- The welders series covers 416,210 workers in a fairly narrow $39,240 to $77,530 band, so industry and mobility explain more of the variation than technique does.
- Production shop welding sits in the lower half; structural, shipbuilding and pipe work sit higher; travelling turnaround and rig work exceeds the published top decile through overtime and per-diem.
- Certification to a specific welding procedure is the gate to better-paid work, and it is job-specific rather than a permanent qualification.
US Welder Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do welders earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 51-4121; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 51-4121, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a welder earn at each career stage?
Welding pay follows certification, industry and willingness to travel rather than a licence ladder. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 51-4121.
By State
Which states pay welders the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the BLS national median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. Welding pay follows industry geography rather than cost of living: refining and petrochemical corridors, shipyards, pipeline routes and heavy manufacturing regions pay well above the national median, while general fabrication shops track local wages closely. Welders are not state-licensed, so mobility is limited only by procedure qualification tests, which are employer-specific.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($61,810), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
welder pay by state — all 20 state guides
By Metro
Which cities pay welders the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national median scaled by the state wage index and then by that state's published metro index. They estimate local wage levels and are not BLS metropolitan-area observations.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a welder’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does welder pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Welders sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify welder wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a welder actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Welder Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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