How much do ironworkers make in Ohio in 2026?

The median ironworker salary in Ohio is $74,710 a year, which works out to about $35.92 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That number sits at the midpoint — half of Ohio ironworkers earn more, half earn less. It's a solid baseline, but where you land on the scale depends heavily on experience, employer, and how much work is available in your part of the state.

At the 25th percentile, Ohio ironworkers take home $58,750 annually, or roughly $28.25 an hour. Workers at this level are typically newer to the trade, still building their ticket of skills across structural steel, reinforcing iron, or ornamental work. The jump from this tier to the median is meaningful — about $16,000 a year — and it usually reflects a few years of consistent field time plus proficiency in multiple ironworking disciplines.

The 75th percentile comes in at $77,750 a year, around $37.38 an hour. The spread between the median ($74,710) and the 75th percentile ($77,750) is narrower than in some other trades — just over $3,000 annually. That compressed upper range suggests experienced Ohio ironworkers cluster fairly tightly in pay, though top earners who push beyond the 75th can pull significantly higher when heavy industrial or infrastructure projects are running hot.

Ironwork is physically demanding and project-driven, which means overtime is part of the picture. A worker pulling a steady 50-hour week during peak construction season adds roughly 520 hours of overtime annually. At the median base rate of $35.92 an hour, those extra hours at time-and-a-half ($53.88/hr) add around $28,000 to annual take-home before taxes — a real difference that BLS wage data doesn't capture directly since it reflects base hourly rates, not total compensation.

Geography inside Ohio matters. The Cleveland-Akron corridor and the Columbus metro have active commercial and infrastructure pipelines that tend to keep ironworkers busier year-round. Toledo and Cincinnati also generate consistent structural steel work tied to manufacturing and industrial projects. More rural parts of the state may have stretches of slower work, which can drag annual earnings below the median even for skilled hands, simply due to less available hours.

The path into the trade typically runs through a formal apprenticeship, usually lasting three to four years and combining on-the-job hours with classroom instruction covering blueprint reading, rigging, welding fundamentals, and safety. Apprentices start at a percentage of journeyman scale and step up through the program. Completing an apprenticeship and earning journeyman status is the clearest way to move from the 25th-percentile range toward the median and beyond.

Certifications also push pay up. An AWS welding certification, NCCER credentials, or a crane signalperson certification add demonstrable value when bidding for higher-wage roles or when a contractor is deciding whom to keep on during a slowdown. Ironworkers who cross-train in rigging and crane signals are harder to replace and typically command better rates.

Some Ohio ironworkers are covered by a collective bargaining agreement — check with your local for current rates.

The BLS OEWS figures here reflect base wages reported by employers in May 2025. They don't include per-diem travel pay, health and pension contributions, or overtime — all of which are common in the trade and can add substantially to total annual compensation. When comparing offers, it's worth calculating the full package, not just the hourly rate on the table.