Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers salary

SOC 51-4121 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$53,750

per year, nationally

Middle half

$46,790–$63,010

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

416,210

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.2%

45,600 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.

$39,240$77,530

10th: $39,240
25th: $46,790
Median: $53,750
75th: $63,010
90th: $77,530

Getting in

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

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

Where welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers 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	Alaska	$80,840	102.4	790	0.90×
2	Hawaii	$79,000	110.0	520	0.31×
3	Connecticut	$64,880	103.6	1,790	0.39×
4	Wyoming	$63,820	92.7	1,850	2.46×
5	Washington	$63,020	107.0	7,720	0.81×
6	Massachusetts	$62,570	105.8	2,830	0.29×
7	New Hampshire	$62,360	104.2	1,110	0.61×
8	Louisiana	$62,250	88.2	13,690	2.64×
9	Maine	$62,220	97.0	1,690	0.99×
10	North Dakota	$62,000	89.0	2,590	2.26×
11	Nevada	$61,520	100.0	1,600	0.39×
12	Vermont	$60,890	98.0	340	0.42×
13	Maryland	$60,310	105.0	2,850	0.39×
14	Minnesota	$60,280	98.6	9,270	1.17×
15	District of Columbia	$60,180	109.9	280	0.15×
16	New Mexico	$59,840	92.2	2,390	1.03×
17	Oregon	$59,450	103.4	5,240	1.00×
18	New Jersey	$59,440	108.8	3,730	0.33×
19	Virginia	$59,180	101.1	10,100	0.92×
20	New York	$59,140	107.9	8,310	0.32×
21	Colorado	$58,590	103.1	4,970	0.65×
22	Wisconsin	$58,410	94.1	15,320	1.95×
23	Utah	$58,380	98.9	4,440	0.96×
24	California	$58,060	110.7	26,060	0.53×
25	Delaware	$57,270	99.8	600	0.46×
26	Montana	$55,610	94.6	1,530	1.12×
27	Arizona	$55,600	100.7	7,270	0.84×
28	Iowa	$55,090	87.8	9,270	2.22×
29	Texas	$53,340	97.1	52,000	1.38×
30	Pennsylvania	$52,900	97.6	17,850	1.10×
31	Nebraska	$52,220	90.1	4,200	1.53×
32	Missouri	$51,950	90.8	10,600	1.35×
33	Kentucky	$51,470	90.2	6,630	1.24×
34	Illinois	$51,320	100.0	16,260	1.00×
35	Mississippi	$51,100	87.0	6,460	2.08×
36	Florida	$50,640	103.4	16,420	0.62×
37	North Carolina	$50,590	94.3	11,750	0.89×
38	Rhode Island	$50,580	102.3	2,300	1.71×
39	Idaho	$50,530	95.5	3,300	1.44×
40	Ohio	$50,340	92.8	20,330	1.37×
41	Michigan	$49,990	96.2	13,330	1.13×
42	South Carolina	$49,980	93.7	7,380	1.20×
43	Indiana	$49,730	93.3	13,280	1.55×
44	Oklahoma	$49,720	87.8	9,960	2.18×
45	South Dakota	$49,440	88.6	3,250	2.66×
46	Kansas	$49,410	90.1	6,370	1.66×
47	West Virginia	$48,810	89.5	2,100	1.12×
48	Alabama	$48,490	88.8	12,450	2.20×
49	Georgia	$48,430	96.3	13,130	1.00×
50	Tennessee	$48,040	91.9	12,510	1.43×
51	Arkansas	$47,970	86.9	6,150	1.76×

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 welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

The 40 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	Lima, OH	$85,790	89.7	470	3.54×
2	Urban Honolulu, HI	$81,120	111.0	430	0.36×
3	Fairbanks-College, AK	$80,210	103.2	70	0.75×
4	Baton Rouge, LA	$78,170	90.8	3,690	3.36×
5	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$75,040	102.7	670	0.42×
6	Anchorage, AK	$74,000	105.4	250	0.53×
7	Lake Charles, LA	$72,920	85.9	970	3.55×
8	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$71,720	105.6	740	2.96×
9	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$67,280	109.4	40	0.22×
10	Portland-South Portland, ME	$66,420	101.9	1,060	1.37×
11	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$66,240	111.1	3,230	0.58×
12	St. Joseph, MO-KS	$66,060	86.4	610	4.21×
13	Boulder, CO	$65,040	105.2	260	0.50×
14	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$64,720	100.1	260	0.76×
15	Alexandria, LA	$64,490	85.7	230	1.42×
16	Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA	$64,470	91.1	390	2.81×
17	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$64,320	115.6	1,990	0.31×
18	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$64,140	110.4	1,050	0.35×
19	Vallejo, CA	$63,860	108.5	280	0.72×
20	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$63,770	108.3	2,210	0.31×
21	Bellingham, WA	$63,720	103.3	320	1.30×
22	Shreveport-Bossier City, LA	$63,610	84.8	910	2.08×
23	Odessa, TX	$63,470	93.9	790	3.66×
24	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$63,460	100.9	140	0.43×
25	Gulfport-Biloxi, MS	$63,440	90.0	2,220	5.23×
26	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$63,440	106.9	210	0.20×
27	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$63,270	92.6	2,000	1.68×
28	Napa, CA	$62,890	112.6	70	0.34×
29	St. Cloud, MN	$62,820	87.6	620	2.22×
30	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$62,800	102.4	430	3.03×
31	Albany, OR	$62,790	102.1	280	2.24×
32	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$62,670	97.9	3,740	1.83×
33	Casper, WY	$62,660	93.8	480	4.51×
34	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$62,560	111.9	2,940	0.71×
35	Minot, ND	$62,060	87.0	80	0.87×
36	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$62,050	105.4	3,300	1.02×
37	Bismarck, ND	$62,000	91.0	320	1.66×
38	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$61,920	104.5	1,290	0.35×
39	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$61,880	104.8	4,600	0.88×
40	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$61,680	112.6	5,780	0.23×

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 welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers earn the most

Best paying metro areas for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers

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