Salaries / Welder
Skilled Trades · SOC 51-4121
Welder salary
Welders, cutters, and brazers join metal parts for construction, manufacturing, and repair. Certifications open higher-paid work.
Median annual
$48,000
Median hourly
$23.10
Typical range
$37,000 to $72,000
Source: National estimate (to be replaced by live BLS data). Figures are gross pay and vary by location, employer, and experience.
The pay range, visually.
Low end (about the 10th percentile), median, and high end (about the 90th percentile).
By state
State figures are estimates derived from the national median and a state wage index, shown to give a rough sense of local differences.
Your skills are a business
Ideas we have for people in skilled trades.
The same experience that earns a paycheck as a welder can start a business. Here are real ideas from our marketplace that fit this field.
Start a Mobile Welding Business
Bring the welder to the work: farm equipment, gates and railings, trailers, and emergency repairs, a skilled trade where certifications are earned by test, not by resume.
Start a Trade How-To YouTube Channel
Build a YouTube channel that teaches a skilled trade or hands-on skill you already have (plumbing fixes, welding basics, auto repair, tiling) and earn from ads, tool affiliates, and eventually your own courses.
Start a Scrap Metal Pickup Route
Haul away appliances, wire, and metal junk for free or a small fee, sort it by metal type, and sell it to the scrapyard, getting paid on both ends of the same truckload.
Start a Skilled Trades Business
Run a licensed HVAC, plumbing, or electrical company where demand is constant, tickets are high, and good operators are scarce.
You could hire welders, not just be one.
We have a staffing calculator to price the work and a full course on how to start a staffing agency, so you can turn a field you already know into a business that puts other people to work.