Data report · June 2026
How much do welders make by US metro?
We ranked welder pay across all 50 major US metros using real BLS wage figures. The #1 metro isn't a coastal tech hub — it's Baton Rouge, and it isn't close. Here's that finding first, then the full picture, with the cost-of-living catch stated plainly.
The finding · Baton Rouge
$78,170 median / year
That's the BLS median for welders in the Baton Rouge metro (Baton Rouge, LA), about $37.58/hour — #1 of 50 metros, and $11,930 clear of #2 Seattle, WA. Most Baton Rouge welders land between $61,170 (25th percentile) and $79,880 (75th percentile) — that 25th-percentile floor is higher than the median in most metros on this list. The likely reason is the work itself: Gulf Coast petrochemical plants, refineries, and industrial shutdowns pay for certified welders. Source: BLS OEWS May 2025. This is an employer-survey wage; it doesn't count benefits, overtime, per-diem, or what contract rig welders bill.
Want the Louisiana state picture, with percentiles? See the full Louisiana welder page.
Read this first
These are raw wages, not adjusted for cost of living. A dollar goes a lot further in Baton Rouge than in San Francisco, and this ranking does not correct for that. We haven't ingested cost-of-living data, so we don't pretend to adjust for it. Read this as “highest-paying before rent,” not “best place to work.”
For welders, the caveat cuts the other way from most trades: the #1 metro is affordable Baton Rouge, LA ($78,170), ahead of expensive San Francisco, CA ( #3, $64,320). And the biggest welder job market — Houston, TX, with 15,850 welders — ranks just #19 on pay. Where the work is and where the pay is are different questions.
TradesPays data report
How much welders make, by metro
Median welder wage across the top 20 of 50 metros. Raw dollars, not cost-of-living adjusted.
- 1. Baton Rouge, LAThe finding$78,170
- 2. Seattle, WA$66,240
- 3. San Francisco, CA$64,320
- 4. San Jose, CA$64,140
- 5. Boston, MA$63,770
- 6. Virginia Beach, VA$62,670
- 7. San Diego, CA$62,560
- 8. Portland, OR$62,050
- 9. Baltimore, MD$61,920
- 10. Minneapolis, MN$61,880
- 11. New York, NY$61,680
- 12. Washington, DC$60,670
- 13. Salt Lake City, UT$60,190
- 14. Milwaukee, WI$59,390
- 15. Austin, TX$59,040
- 16. Denver, CO$58,890
- 17. Philadelphia, PA$58,380
- 18. Las Vegas, NV$57,980
- 19. Houston, TX$57,940
- 20. Richmond, VA$57,710
TradesPays · BLS OEWS May 2025 metropolitan files · welder median (SOC 51-4121) · raw wages, not cost-of-living adjusted.
Share it: download the chart (PNG) or the dataset (JSON). Every figure traces to BLS OEWS May 2025.
What the numbers say
Baton Rouge, LA pays welders the most ($78,170 median), San Antonio, TX the least of the covered metros ($48,220) — a $29,950 spread on the same job. Welder pay follows heavy industry, not rent: the Gulf Coast petrochemical corridor puts Baton Rouge on top by nearly $12,000 over every coastal metro, while the metros with the most welding jobs — Houston, TX (#19), Chicago, IL (#31) — sit mid-table on pay. If you weld and can move, the highest-paying markets are not the biggest ones.
All 50 metros, ranked
Median welder wage by metro, with the 25th–75th percentile range (the middle half of welders). Raw dollars, not cost-of-living adjusted. BLS OEWS May 2025.
| # | Metro | Median | 25th–75th pct |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baton Rouge, LA | $78,170 | $61,170–$79,880 |
| 2 | Seattle, WA | $66,240 | $58,200–$75,210 |
| 3 | San Francisco, CA | $64,320 | $56,680–$78,920 |
| 4 | San Jose, CA | $64,140 | $57,420–$76,730 |
| 5 | Boston, MA | $63,770 | $56,250–$76,100 |
| 6 | Virginia Beach, VA | $62,670 | $49,950–$71,090 |
| 7 | San Diego, CA | $62,560 | $50,400–$76,630 |
| 8 | Portland, OR | $62,050 | $53,130–$72,400 |
| 9 | Baltimore, MD | $61,920 | $48,180–$80,060 |
| 10 | Minneapolis, MN | $61,880 | $55,020–$72,140 |
| 11 | New York, NY | $61,680 | $52,790–$75,930 |
| 12 | Washington, DC | $60,670 | $50,120–$77,560 |
| 13 | Salt Lake City, UT | $60,190 | $49,450–$67,630 |
| 14 | Milwaukee, WI | $59,390 | $50,520–$63,010 |
| 15 | Austin, TX | $59,040 | $47,060–$67,000 |
| 16 | Denver, CO | $58,890 | $47,870–$70,760 |
| 17 | Philadelphia, PA | $58,380 | $49,700–$68,890 |
| 18 | Las Vegas, NV | $57,980 | $46,340–$66,180 |
| 19 | Houston, TX | $57,940 | $46,470–$71,460 |
| 20 | Richmond, VA | $57,710 | $48,600–$66,490 |
| 21 | Kansas City, MO | $57,370 | $48,240–$71,380 |
| 22 | Sacramento, CA | $57,290 | $49,210–$63,980 |
| 23 | Raleigh, NC | $56,940 | $47,190–$60,980 |
| 24 | Phoenix, AZ | $56,540 | $48,890–$65,690 |
| 25 | Los Angeles, CA | $56,160 | $47,910–$64,800 |
| 26 | Charlotte, NC | $56,070 | $47,420–$62,740 |
| 27 | Miami, FL | $54,590 | $47,870–$62,630 |
| 28 | Pittsburgh, PA | $53,610 | $47,480–$63,120 |
| 29 | Omaha, NE | $53,110 | $48,750–$60,750 |
| 30 | Providence, RI | $52,800 | $50,580–$68,640 |
| 31 | Chicago, IL | $52,650 | $46,270–$61,750 |
| 32 | Riverside, CA | $52,050 | $47,830–$60,850 |
| 33 | Cincinnati, OH | $51,990 | $47,050–$62,240 |
| 34 | Detroit, MI | $51,810 | $47,650–$61,010 |
| 35 | St. Louis, MO | $51,640 | $46,630–$60,560 |
| 36 | Dallas, TX | $51,630 | $46,180–$62,670 |
| 37 | Columbus, OH | $51,260 | $47,400–$60,140 |
| 38 | Indianapolis, IN | $51,070 | $46,590–$62,550 |
| 39 | Louisville, KY | $50,870 | $47,440–$60,330 |
| 40 | Jacksonville, FL | $50,640 | $46,290–$61,140 |
| 41 | Boise City, ID | $50,240 | $46,660–$59,530 |
| 42 | Orlando, FL | $50,200 | $45,940–$59,630 |
| 43 | Birmingham, AL | $49,930 | $44,350–$62,080 |
| 44 | Tampa, FL | $49,930 | $46,670–$60,310 |
| 45 | Atlanta, GA | $49,630 | $46,130–$59,700 |
| 46 | Nashville, TN | $49,460 | $43,730–$61,100 |
| 47 | Cleveland, OH | $49,040 | $44,620–$58,850 |
| 48 | Grand Rapids, MI | $48,920 | $47,300–$57,210 |
| 49 | Oklahoma City, OK | $48,760 | $42,740–$59,600 |
| 50 | San Antonio, TX | $48,220 | $45,010–$60,930 |
Welder pay questions, answered
- Which US metro pays welders the most?
- Of the 50 metros with BLS welder data, Baton Rouge, LA pays the highest median at $78,170 a year, per BLS OEWS May 2025. These are raw wages, not adjusted for cost of living.
- How much do welders make in Baton Rouge?
- The median welder wage in the Baton Rouge metro is $78,170 a year (about $37.58/hour), per BLS OEWS May 2025 - the highest of the 50 metros we cover. Half of Baton Rouge welders earn between $61,170 (25th percentile) and $79,880 (75th percentile). This is a before-tax employer-survey wage and does not include benefits, overtime, or self-employment income.
- Do welders make more in expensive coastal cities?
- No - for welders the top of the list is not the expensive coasts. Baton Rouge, LA welders (median $78,170, rank #1) out-earn San Francisco, CA welders (median $64,320, rank #3) in raw BLS dollars (BLS OEWS May 2025). Gulf Coast industrial and petrochemical work pushes welder pay up where that work is. We don't cost-of-living adjust in either direction, so read the ranking as "highest-paying before rent," not "best place to work."
- How much do welders make in Houston?
- The median welder wage in the Houston metro is $57,940 a year ($46,470 to $71,460 between the 25th and 75th percentiles), per BLS OEWS May 2025. Houston has by far the most welder jobs of any metro we cover (15,850 welders in the BLS count) but ranks #19 of 50 on pay - the biggest market is not the best-paying one.
- How much do welders make in Chicago?
- The median welder wage in the Chicago metro is $52,650 a year ($46,270 to $61,750 between the 25th and 75th percentiles), per BLS OEWS May 2025. It ranks #31 of 50 metros.
- How much do welders make in New York?
- The median welder wage in the New York metro is $61,680 a year ($52,790 to $75,930 between the 25th and 75th percentiles), per BLS OEWS May 2025. It ranks #11 of 50 metros. This covers the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, not the five boroughs alone.
- What is the typical welder wage across major US metros?
- Across the 50 metros with BLS welder data, the metro medians run from $48,220 (San Antonio, TX) to $78,170 (Baton Rouge, LA), a $29,950 spread. The middle of that set sits near $56,115. That figure describes these metros, not a national average. All numbers are BLS OEWS May 2025 medians.
What this is not
The numbers are real BLS medians. Read honestly, here is what they can and can't tell you.
Not cost-of-living adjusted.
Baton Rouge, LA dollars and San Antonio, TX dollars don't buy the same life. We didn't adjust, and we won't pretend a high raw wage means a high real one — though for welders the top metro is also one of the cheaper ones, which is the point of the finding.
Not total compensation.
OEWS is an employer wage survey. It leaves out benefits, overtime, per-diem, and self-employment income — and traveling industrial welders on shutdown work routinely out-earn these figures on per-diem packages. Treat this as the W-2 wage line, not everything a welder takes home.
One occupation code, many jobs.
SOC 51-4121 is the BLS "Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers" occupation. A certified pipe welder in a refinery and a production solderer are the same code to BLS; the percentile spread hints at that range, the median hides it.
A metro, not a neighborhood.
BLS metros are whole commuting areas. The "Baton Rouge" figure covers Baton Rouge, LA, not the city alone.
Full welder coverage, on purpose.
BLS published welder wages for all 50 of 50 metros in our set, so nothing here is imputed or dropped. But these are the 50 metros with the most skilled-trades employment — a smaller industrial metro could pay more and not appear.
One snapshot, not a trend.
Every figure is the single BLS OEWS May 2025 vintage. It's a point in time, not a trajectory.
Methodology
- Source
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025, metropolitan (CBSA) files, for welders (SOC 51-4121). Annual 25th/50th/75th-percentile wages by metro. Public domain.
- Metros covered
- The 50 US metros with the most combined skilled-trades employment. Each is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (BLS area type 4); no metropolitan divisions, so there's no parent/child double-counting. BLS published welder wages in all 50 (100% coverage) — nothing imputed.
- How a metro is ranked
- By its raw BLS annual median (p50) welder wage. Ties break on metro name. No figure is modeled, blended, or cost-of-living adjusted.
- The percentile range
- The 25th–75th percentile columns are the BLS p25 and p75 — the band the middle half of welders in that metro fall within. We show it so a single median can't hide a wide spread.
- Known limitations
- Raw wages, no cost-of-living adjustment. OEWS measures wages, not total compensation (no benefits, overtime, per-diem, or self-employment). A single May 2025 vintage; not a trend.
More on how we source everything: our methodology. See also the welder pay hub for state-by-state numbers, the companion plumber and electrician metro reports, and the highest-paying metros across all trades.
Know what welders really make in your metro?
BLS gives the median. It can't tell you what the shop down the road is actually paying, or what shutdown work bills with per-diem. Send us your metro and your pay. We publish anonymously, never with a raw email address.