Boilermakers salary

SOC 47-2011 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$76,410

per year, nationally

Middle half

$64,760–$95,430

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

10,190

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-2.4%

800 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$50,490$110,370

10th: $50,490
25th: $64,760
Median: $76,410
75th: $95,430
90th: $110,370

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Apprenticeship

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where boilermakers earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	California	$118,150	110.7	720	0.61×
2	Mississippi	$105,910	87.0	280	3.65×
3	New Mexico	$101,200	92.2	300	5.21×
4	Illinois	$99,730	100.0	110	0.27×
5	Michigan	$98,220	96.2	—	—
6	Wisconsin	$97,590	94.1	170	0.91×
7	Minnesota	$96,190	98.6	140	0.71×
8	Washington	$95,200	107.0	190	0.83×
9	Indiana	$91,410	93.3	170	0.81×
10	Colorado	$89,350	103.1	40	0.20×
11	Idaho	$88,400	95.5	70	1.17×
12	Pennsylvania	$86,850	97.6	260	0.65×
13	Ohio	$85,550	92.8	300	0.84×
14	New Hampshire	$85,470	104.2	60	1.29×
15	New York	$84,770	107.9	410	0.65×
16	Iowa	$82,470	87.8	50	0.47×
17	New Jersey	$82,410	108.8	280	1.01×
18	Connecticut	$80,360	103.6	50	0.43×
19	Missouri	$78,550	90.8	100	0.52×
20	Arizona	$77,940	100.7	170	0.82×
21	Wyoming	$77,900	92.7	30	1.71×
22	Oklahoma	$77,750	87.8	—	—
23	Arkansas	$76,810	86.9	50	0.57×
24	Texas	$75,750	97.1	2,340	2.54×
25	South Carolina	$74,840	93.7	—	—
26	Kentucky	$74,810	90.2	150	1.11×
27	Louisiana	$73,980	88.2	1,220	9.60×
28	Kansas	$72,170	90.1	70	0.70×
29	Florida	$69,790	103.4	400	0.62×
30	Virginia	$67,540	101.1	150	0.56×
31	Georgia	$64,200	96.3	—	—
32	West Virginia	$63,850	89.5	30	0.70×
33	Alabama	$63,570	88.8	180	1.29×
34	Nevada	$61,430	100.0	70	0.67×
35	Tennessee	$51,810	91.9	180	0.83×
36	North Carolina	$49,720	94.3	150	0.47×
37	Maryland	$42,250	105.0	30	0.19×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where boilermakers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for boilermakers

The 26 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$135,290	115.6	50	0.29×
2	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$110,370	113.6	320	0.77×
3	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$109,640	103.6	90	0.30×
4	Toledo, OH	$107,780	91.5	40	2.15×
5	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$106,790	95.8	—	—
6	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$105,430	104.8	—	—
7	Farmington, NM	$101,250	87.7	—	—
8	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$100,110	100.3	—	—
9	St. Louis, MO-IL	$94,640	95.1	40	0.50×
10	Pittsburgh, PA	$91,420	94.7	100	1.40×
11	Cleveland, OH	$90,980	93.9	30	0.46×
12	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$86,910	102.6	140	0.75×
13	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$82,420	112.6	330	0.52×
14	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$77,290	92.6	120	4.21×
15	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$77,090	98.6	1,170	5.43×
16	Baton Rouge, LA	$74,730	90.8	680	25.40×
17	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$73,060	90.0	230	21.39×
18	Lafayette, LA	$70,720	87.2	110	9.14×
19	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$68,350	97.9	90	1.83×
20	Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH	$67,010	88.4	30	3.73×
21	Corpus Christi, TX	$64,660	92.7	170	13.19×
22	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$64,200	100.1	—	—
23	Tulsa, OK	$64,110	89.2	—	—
24	Decatur, AL	$64,060	87.2	30	8.45×
25	Birmingham, AL	$64,000	91.6	—	—
26	Knoxville, TN	$51,430	92.6	50	1.68×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where boilermakers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Construction Laborers$47,120
Electricians$63,190
Carpenters$60,580
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators$59,850
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters$63,800
Painters, Construction and Maintenance$49,400
Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers$57,020
Roofers$55,440