How much do welders make in Wisconsin in 2026?

The median welder in Wisconsin earns $58,410 a year, which works out to about $28.08 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's the midpoint — half of welders in the state earn more, half earn less. If you're just starting out or working a lower-skill production role, expect to land closer to the 25th percentile at $50,320 a year ($24.19/hr). Experienced welders working more complex applications sit at the 75th percentile at $62,220 annually ($29.91/hr). These figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025.

The spread between the bottom quarter and the top quarter is about $11,900 a year. That gap is real and it's driven almost entirely by what you can weld and how well you can weld it. A production welder running the same MIG bead on a light-gauge assembly line all day sits at one end of the scale. A welder certified in TIG, flux-core, or stick who can read blueprints, work to tight tolerances, and handle structural or pressure-vessel work sits at the other.

Wisconsin's manufacturing base is one of the heaviest in the Midwest. The state has deep roots in heavy equipment, agricultural machinery, industrial fabrication, and food processing equipment — all sectors that keep a steady demand for welders year-round. That's a practical advantage: welder employment here tends to be more stable than in states where construction-driven welding work ebbs and flows with the season.

Geography inside Wisconsin does affect pay. The Milwaukee metro and its surrounding industrial suburbs — Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha — generally support the highest wages because the concentration of manufacturers is greatest there. Green Bay and Appleton have strong fabrication and paper-industry maintenance work that can push wages above the state median for the right specialties. More rural areas of the state tend to track closer to or below the 25th percentile unless the employer is a large agricultural equipment manufacturer.

Overtime is a genuine wage lever for welders. Many Wisconsin shops run extended shifts during peak production cycles or to cover skilled-worker shortages. A welder at the median rate of $28.08/hr who works just 10 hours of overtime per week for six months adds roughly $13,000 to their annual take-home before taxes (using a 1.5x overtime multiplier). That kind of overtime availability is common in heavy fabrication shops and is worth asking about during any job search.

Certifications move pay more than almost anything else. AWS (American Welding Society) certifications in specific processes — particularly 6G pipe, structural D1.1, or pressure vessel work to ASME standards — routinely command a premium of several dollars per hour over uncertified welders doing similar base work. Some employers in Wisconsin will pay for certification testing for existing employees; others require you to come in already certified. Either way, adding a certification to your ticket is the most direct path from the 25th to the 75th percentile.

No union scale data was available for welders in Wisconsin at the time of this publication. That doesn't mean union shops don't exist — ironworker and boilermaker locals, which cover certain welding work, are active in the state — but a single statewide union welder wage figure isn't published for this trade. If you're targeting union work, contact the relevant local directly for their current scale and benefit packages, since benefits like health insurance and pension contributions can add significant value on top of the base hourly rate.

The BLS figures here capture base wages from employer payroll records. They don't include overtime premiums, shift differentials, tool allowances, or the value of employer-paid benefits. That means the true total compensation for a welder in a full-time Wisconsin shop job is typically higher than what the percentile numbers show on their own. Use these figures as a baseline for what the market pays in straight-time wages, then factor in everything else when comparing specific job offers.