How much do boilermakers make in Minnesota in 2026?

Minnesota boilermakers earn a median salary of $96,190 per year, which works out to roughly $46.25 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That median puts this trade well above many other skilled-trades benchmarks in the state, reflecting the hazardous conditions, physical demands, and specialized certification requirements the work carries.

The bottom quarter of earners — those at the 25th percentile — take home around $81,420 annually, or about $39.14 an hour. That range typically covers workers who are still building hours toward journeyman status, recently completed an apprenticeship, or are working in lower-intensity maintenance roles at smaller facilities. Getting past that floor usually comes down to time on tools and picking up the certifications that open doors to the higher-pressure, higher-paying jobs.

At the 75th percentile, pay climbs to $105,430 per year, or about $50.69 an hour. Workers at this level have usually spent years on industrial shutdowns, power generation facilities, refineries, or paper mills — the kind of work that demands welding certifications, confined-space experience, and a willingness to travel or work rotating shifts. The spread between the 25th and 75th percentile — roughly $24,000 a year — is meaningful, and most of it is explained by specialization, certifications, and the type of employer rather than simple seniority.

Minnesota's industrial base creates steady demand for boilermakers. The state has significant infrastructure in pulp and paper, ethanol production, power generation, and heavy manufacturing. Facilities in the Twin Cities metro and in outstate industrial corridors near Duluth, the Iron Range, and along the Mississippi river towns regularly need scheduled maintenance, inspections, and emergency repairs. Workers willing to pick up work in less-populated regions sometimes find the competition thinner and the overtime more plentiful.

Overtime is a real factor in this trade. Planned plant shutdowns and turnarounds are often scheduled on compressed timelines, meaning 50- to 60-hour weeks are common during those periods. At $46.25 straight-time, a worker clocking just 200 hours of overtime in a year at time-and-a-half adds roughly $13,875 to their base — pushing total annual compensation well above the BLS median figure, which is based on straight wages and does not account for overtime, per diem, or shift differentials.

Per diem and travel pay also go uncaptured in BLS data. Boilermakers who travel to job sites — especially for multi-week refinery or power plant turnarounds — often receive daily allowances that can add thousands of dollars to their effective annual income without ever showing up in a wage survey.

Welding certifications are the clearest lever for moving up the pay scale. ASME Section IX and AWS certifications qualify workers for boiler fabrication and high-pressure piping work that many shops will pay a premium for. NDE (non-destructive examination) skills — ultrasonic testing, radiography — are another path to higher pay in the inspection and quality-assurance side of the trade.

Some boilermakers in Minnesota work under collective bargaining agreements. If you are covered by one, the actual rates, zone pay, and fringe benefit contributions will be spelled out in your local's agreement — that document is the authoritative source for your specific pay, not a statewide average.

All figures on this page come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, published May 2025. BLS surveys employers and reports straight-time wages; it does not include overtime premiums, bonuses, per diem, or benefits. Think of these numbers as your baseline floor — actual take-home for an experienced, certified boilermaker working a full industrial schedule in Minnesota is often higher.