WELDER
MEDIAN PAY (BLS 2024)
Welders nationwide earn a median of $25.07/hr per the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS 2024 survey. 423,920 welders employed across the U.S. See the state-by-state breakdown below — the highest-paying states often run 30%+ over the national median.
$25.07/hr median · $52,140 annualized (40 hr/wk × 52 wk)
Employment-weighted estimate from 50-state BLS OEWS data (the official BLS national row isn't in our dataset yet). State medians below are real BLS figures.
STATE-BY-STATE MEDIAN
BLS · sorted highest first| State | Median /hr | Top 10% /hr | Employed | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | $37.01 | $47.44 | 570 | VIEW |
| Alaska | $36.13 | $51.20 | 650 | VIEW |
| Wyoming | $31.76 | $43.14 | 1,900 | VIEW |
| Connecticut | $31.02 | $45.17 | 2,030 | VIEW |
| Washington | $29.68 | $40.05 | 7,680 | VIEW |
| Massachusetts | $29.67 | $41.19 | 3,080 | VIEW |
| North Dakota | $28.98 | $39.94 | 2,720 | VIEW |
| Louisiana | $28.78 | $40.02 | 12,360 | VIEW |
| New Jersey | $28.67 | $43.46 | 3,300 | VIEW |
| Nevada | $28.54 | $44.27 | 2,080 | VIEW |
| Minnesota | $28.24 | $35.36 | 9,420 | VIEW |
| District of Columbia | $28.22 | $50.51 | 330 | VIEW |
| Oregon | $28.17 | $38.09 | 4,870 | VIEW |
| Maine | $28.05 | $35.49 | 1,950 | VIEW |
| California | $27.86 | $40.72 | 26,100 | VIEW |
| New Hampshire | $27.74 | $37.54 | 1,040 | VIEW |
| Vermont | $27.65 | $34.45 | 340 | VIEW |
| Virginia | $27.57 | $37.50 | 10,690 | VIEW |
| New York | $27.51 | $38.90 | 7,810 | VIEW |
| Colorado | $27.50 | $37.35 | 4,470 | VIEW |
| Rhode Island | $27.40 | $49.39 | 2,350 | VIEW |
| Delaware | $27.17 | $44.43 | 510 | VIEW |
| Maryland | $27.12 | $40.79 | 3,190 | VIEW |
| Utah | $26.95 | $37.65 | 4,230 | VIEW |
| Wisconsin | $26.74 | $31.23 | 16,820 | VIEW |
| Arizona | $25.85 | $39.44 | 7,630 | VIEW |
| New Mexico | $25.22 | $44.11 | 2,350 | VIEW |
| Montana | $24.66 | $37.64 | 1,340 | VIEW |
| Pennsylvania | $24.45 | $32.22 | 16,060 | VIEW |
| Nebraska | $24.31 | $31.19 | 3,990 | VIEW |
| North Carolina | $23.97 | $33.90 | 12,020 | VIEW |
| Texas | $23.96 | $37.71 | 56,650 | VIEW |
| Illinois | $23.91 | $34.02 | 17,340 | VIEW |
| Mississippi | $23.80 | $30.29 | 6,570 | VIEW |
| Missouri | $23.78 | $35.57 | 10,270 | VIEW |
| Iowa | $23.77 | $29.60 | 9,250 | VIEW |
| Florida | $23.77 | $32.89 | 16,390 | VIEW |
| Ohio | $23.75 | $32.45 | 20,110 | VIEW |
| Kentucky | $23.68 | $31.07 | 7,360 | VIEW |
| Idaho | $23.65 | $31.49 | 3,300 | VIEW |
| South Carolina | $23.61 | $31.81 | 7,600 | VIEW |
| Kansas | $23.58 | $32.43 | 6,310 | VIEW |
| Michigan | $23.53 | $34.82 | 13,640 | VIEW |
| Oklahoma | $23.31 | $31.22 | 9,780 | VIEW |
| Indiana | $23.30 | $33.88 | 13,260 | VIEW |
| South Dakota | $23.24 | $29.49 | 3,480 | VIEW |
| Georgia | $23.08 | $31.13 | 14,030 | VIEW |
| Tennessee | $22.73 | $30.47 | 12,610 | VIEW |
| Alabama | $22.68 | $32.02 | 12,570 | VIEW |
| Arkansas | $22.64 | $30.56 | 7,240 | VIEW |
| West Virginia | $22.60 | $43.76 | 2,280 | VIEW |
TOP-PAYING METROS
DAVIS-BACON PREVAILING WAGES
LOOK UP DIRECTFederal construction work (LNG terminals, military bases, GSA, VA, federal infrastructure) uses Davis-Bacon prevailing wage determinations as a legal wage floor — base + fringe benefits, set per county per construction type. If you're on a federally-funded project paying below the WD, the contractor is out of compliance and you can file a WH-3.
Rates change frequently and are county-specific, so we link direct instead of caching stale numbers. Look up the active Wage Determination for your job at sam.gov/wage-determinations or dol.gov/whd/government-contracts.
RECENT WORKER PAY REPORTS
Anonymous by default. The next hand reads what you post.
16 other trades. State medians + Davis-Bacon + per diem in one spot.