What a welder earns, by metro
Median pay for welders runs from $28,450 in Aguadilla to $85,790 in Lima — a 3.02× range across 515 metropolitan areas. The national median of $53,750 sits inside that range but describes no particular market.
Welder — nationalBLS OEWS · May 2025
$53,750Median annual
$25.84Median hourly
$39,24010th percentile
$77,53090th percentile
416,210Employed nationally
Median means half earn more and half earn less — it says nothing about
how far. The percentile columns are where the information is.
What the percentile band tells you
Ten per cent of welders earn below $39,240 and ten per cent above $77,530 — a 1.98× band. The upside from median to 90th percentile is 44%, which is a normal amount of room for experience and specialisation to matter. An offer below the 25th percentile is worth questioning; one above the 75th is worth taking seriously.
Where the money is
Lima (OH) leads and Aguadilla (PR) trails, but the gap is modest. For a role like this the more useful comparison is not between cities but between the 10th and 90th percentile within one — see the band above.
Highest paying metros
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lima OH | $85,790 | $41.25 | 3.54 | 470 |
| Urban Honolulu HI | $81,120 | $39.00 | 0.36 | 430 |
| Alaska nonmetropolitan area | $81,000 | $38.94 | 1.57 | 460 |
| Fairbanks-College AK | $80,210 | $38.56 | 0.75 | 70 |
| Balance of Nevada nonmetropolitan area | $79,810 | $38.37 | 1.65 | 400 |
| Baton Rouge LA | $78,170 | $37.58 | 3.36 | 3,690 |
| Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford CT | $75,040 | $36.08 | 0.42 | 670 |
| Eastern New Mexico nonmetropolitan area | $74,930 | $36.03 | 2.28 | 1,020 |
| Anchorage AK | $74,000 | $35.58 | 0.53 | 250 |
| Lake Charles LA | $72,920 | $35.06 | 3.55 | 970 |
| East North Dakota nonmetropolitan area | $72,560 | $34.89 | 4.14 | 700 |
| Hawaii / Kauai nonmetropolitan area | $71,860 | $34.55 | 0.16 | 50 |
| Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard WA | $71,720 | $34.48 | 2.96 | 740 |
| Northern New Mexico nonmetropolitan area | $70,860 | $34.07 | 0.42 | 90 |
| Eastern Wyoming nonmetropolitan area | $70,000 | $33.65 | 3.06 | 700 |
| Kahului-Wailuku HI | $67,280 | $32.35 | 0.22 | 40 |
| Portland-South Portland ME | $66,420 | $31.93 | 1.37 | 1,060 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA | $66,240 | $31.85 | 0.58 | 3,230 |
| St. Joseph MO-KS | $66,060 | $31.76 | 4.21 | 610 |
| Boulder CO | $65,040 | $31.27 | 0.5 | 260 |
| Kennewick-Richland WA | $64,720 | $31.12 | 0.76 | 260 |
| Alexandria LA | $64,490 | $31.00 | 1.42 | 230 |
| Staunton-Stuarts Draft VA | $64,470 | $30.99 | 2.81 | 390 |
| Western Wyoming nonmetropolitan area | $64,410 | $30.97 | 1.29 | 350 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA | $64,320 | $30.93 | 0.31 | 1,990 |
Lowest paying metros
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aguadilla PR | $28,450 | $13.68 | 0.68 | 90 |
| Arecibo PR | $29,380 | $14.13 | 1.57 | 150 |
| Mayaguez PR | $30,230 | $14.54 | 0.48 | 70 |
| San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas PR | $30,390 | $14.61 | 0.67 | 1,240 |
| Ponce PR | $31,680 | $15.23 | 0.61 | 100 |
| McAllen-Edinburg-Mission TX | $39,710 | $19.09 | 0.43 | 350 |
| Columbus GA-AL | $40,100 | $19.28 | 1.05 | 330 |
| West Delta Mississippi nonmetropolitan area | $40,300 | $19.37 | 3.05 | 750 |
| Southeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area | $41,700 | $20.05 | 1.78 | 400 |
| Texarkana TX-AR | $41,920 | $20.15 | 3.83 | 590 |
East Arkansas nonmetropolitan area is the cluster
East Arkansas nonmetropolitan area has 6.81× the national concentration of welders — the densest market in the country for this role, with 1,240 employed locally. Pay there is $48,410, which does not put it near the top of the pay table. Concentration and compensation are different things — a dense market is easier to get hired in and easier to move around within, but the competition that makes it dense also caps what employers need to offer.
Where the role is most concentrated
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Arkansas nonmetropolitan area | $48,410 | $23.27 | 6.81 | 1,240 |
| Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux LA | $56,990 | $27.40 | 6.03 | 1,350 |
| Elkhart-Goshen IN | $50,950 | $24.49 | 5.86 | 2,000 |
| East South Dakota nonmetropolitan area | $49,070 | $23.59 | 5.4 | 1,920 |
| Gulfport-Biloxi MS | $63,440 | $30.50 | 5.23 | 2,220 |
| Wausau WI | $55,780 | $26.82 | 5 | 930 |
| Elizabethtown KY | $59,900 | $28.80 | 4.8 | 660 |
| Northeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area | $48,480 | $23.31 | 4.71 | 1,930 |
| Sheboygan WI | $59,460 | $28.59 | 4.57 | 740 |
| Beaumont-Port Arthur TX | $59,190 | $28.46 | 4.52 | 1,980 |
| Casper WY | $62,660 | $30.12 | 4.51 | 480 |
| Northwest Alabama nonmetropolitan area | $46,750 | $22.47 | 4.36 | 790 |
Largest employers by metro
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands TX | $57,940 | $27.86 | 1.8 | 15,850 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX | $51,630 | $24.82 | 0.98 | 10,620 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin IL-IN | $52,650 | $25.31 | 0.77 | 9,320 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA | $56,160 | $27.00 | 0.47 | 7,850 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ | $61,680 | $29.66 | 0.23 | 5,780 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler AZ | $56,540 | $27.18 | 0.86 | 5,440 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell GA | $49,630 | $23.86 | 0.68 | 5,240 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington PA-NJ-DE-MD | $58,380 | $28.07 | 0.6 | 4,630 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI | $61,880 | $29.75 | 0.88 | 4,600 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MI | $51,810 | $24.91 | 0.9 | 4,580 |
| Tulsa OK | $53,550 | $25.74 | 3.68 | 4,520 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario CA | $52,050 | $25.02 | 0.83 | 3,810 |
Current openings
Remote Welder
Houston-Pasadena-The WoodlandsDallas-Fort Worth-ArlingtonChicago-Naperville-ElginLos Angeles-Long Beach-AnaheimNew York-Newark-Jersey CityPhoenix-Mesa-ChandlerAtlanta-Sandy Springs-RoswellPhiladelphia-Camden-Wilmington
About this data
Figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics programme, May 2025 release, SOC code 51-4121. OEWS surveys employers, so it reports what is actually paid rather than what job advertisements claim, and it excludes the self-employed. Estimates cover 515 of 528 metropolitan areas — near-complete coverage, which means the ranges above are reliable rather than drawn from a handful of markets. Read the methodology.