How much do welders make in Washington in 2026?

The median welder in Washington earns $63,020 a year, which works out to roughly $30.30 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's the number sitting right in the middle of the pay range — half of welders in the state earn more, half earn less. If you're just starting out or working a lower-demand shop, the 25th percentile lands at $54,740 a year, or about $26.32 an hour. Get into the top quarter of earners — typically through specialty certifications, higher-demand industries, or metro-area employers — and you're looking at $73,650 a year, about $35.41 an hour.

That $18,910 spread between the 25th and 75th percentile isn't noise. It reflects real differences in what welders do and where they do it. A production welder on repetitive MIG work in a light manufacturing shop is going to pull different numbers than a certified pipe welder working on industrial construction in the Puget Sound area. Certification matters. Welders holding AWS certifications — particularly 6G pipe or structural D1.1 — consistently land in the upper half of the wage range. So does the industry sector: aerospace fabrication, shipbuilding, and heavy industrial construction all tend to pay above the state median, while smaller fab shops and general manufacturing often track closer to the 25th percentile.

Washington's geography plays into this too. The Seattle-Bellevue-Everett metro corridor is home to major aerospace suppliers, shipyards, and industrial fabricators. Demand for qualified welders in that corridor — especially those who can handle aluminum, stainless, or certified pressure vessel work — keeps wages elevated compared to rural or eastern Washington markets. Spokane and the Tri-Cities have active industrial bases as well, but the density of high-paying employers is lower than the western side of the Cascades.

Process knowledge is another lever. Welders who are proficient in TIG, flux-core, and submerged arc in addition to basic MIG are more versatile and harder to replace. Employers competing for that skill set pay for it. A welder who can pass a 3G or 6G certification test and pick up new processes quickly is not going to sit at $26 an hour for long in a state with Washington's industrial footprint.

Hours also affect take-home in ways the annual figure doesn't fully capture. Welding in construction or shutdown work often involves significant overtime. A welder at the median $30.30 base rate working regular 10-hour overtime weeks can push well past $70,000 in gross annual earnings without ever changing employers or picking up a new certification.

No union scale data is currently available for welders in Washington through TradesPays. Where union agreements do apply — and some do exist in shipbuilding and construction sectors in this state — the base rates and benefit packages can differ substantially from the BLS OEWS figures shown here, which blend both union and non-union employment.

All figures on this page come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. These are wage figures and do not include the value of health insurance, retirement contributions, or other benefits.