Welder Hourly Pay, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 5,235 US job postings by 1,981 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for welders: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 5,235 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for welders in US job postings is $26.00 an hour (1,060 postings from 499 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $22.75 to $30.00 an hour.
- The skills that most set welder postings apart are mig, smaw, welding techniques.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Welder job postings in the US, October 2026
- $26.00/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,060 postings)
- $22.75–$30.00
- Middle 50% of postings
- 5,235
- US job postings from 1,981 employers
- 2 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a welder make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $26.00 an hour, from 1,060 US job postings by 499 employers that state pay. That is about $54,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,060 US welder job postings: median $54,000 a year ($26.00 an hour), middle half $48,000 to $63,000.
- Median: $54,000 ($26.00/hr)
- 25th percentile: $48,000
- 75th percentile: $63,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 0.7% |
| $30K–$40K | 3.4% |
| $40K–$50K | 30.6% |
| $50K–$60K | 32.1% |
| $60K–$70K | 18.0% |
| $70K–$80K | 8.9% |
| $80K–$90K | 2.6% |
| $90K–$100K | 1.4% |
| $100K–$110K | 0.7% |
| $110K–$120K | 1.1% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $26.00 | $22.75–$30.00 | 979 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $54,000 | $48K–$63K | 1,060 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers (51-4121) at $54,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for a welder?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Highest-paying welder jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welder (general) | $26.13/hr | 930 | 453 |
Skills employers ask for in welder job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Attention to detail | 23% |
| Communication | 16% |
| Mig | 13% |
| Welding | 11% |
| Problem-solving | 10% |
| Work independently | 9% |
| Smaw | 8% |
| Welding techniques | 8% |
| Gmaw | 7% |
| Tig | 7% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set welders apart
- Mig167.7× as often as in all postings · 13%
- Smaw227.9× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Welding techniques223.7× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Welding38.3× as often as in all postings · 11%
- Gmaw214.8× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Fcaw228.4× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Tig164.1× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Gtaw211.6× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Welding experience198.4× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Tig welding201.4× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Mig welding200.3× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Read blueprints29.3× as often as in all postings · 5%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a welder job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a welder do?
Employers post these jobs as Welder/Fabricator, Fabricator, TIG Welder, Pipe Welder, Welder I and other titles. The largest specializations are Fabricator (5%), Ironworker (2%), Sheet Metal Mechanic (2%).
The closest official occupation is Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers (51-4121.00). Its most important tasks:
- Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.
- Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
- Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
- Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
- Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a welder?
Among 1,980 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. 1% say 0 years and 32% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,980 US welder job postings: median 2 years, and 32% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 4% |
| 1 yr | 28% |
| 2 yrs | 28% |
| 3-4 yrs | 27% |
| 5-7 yrs | 12% |
| 8-9 yrs | under 1% |
| 10+ yrs | under 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 98% of the 564 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a welder: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Welder | 969 (48.9%) |
| Welder/Fabricator | 154 (7.8%) |
| Fabricator | 135 (6.8%) |
| TIG Welder | 91 (4.6%) |
| Pipe Welder | 86 (4.3%) |
| Welder I | 84 (4.2%) |
| Welder II | 71 (3.6%) |
| Structural Welder | 56 (2.8%) |
| MIG Welder | 54 (2.7%) |
| Fitter/Welder | 50 (2.5%) |
| Metal Fabricator | 47 (2.4%) |
| Fabricator/Welder | 43 (2.2%) |
| Welder/Fitter | 40 (2.0%) |
| Structural Fitter | 29 (1.5%) |
| Welder III | 28 (1.4%) |
| Welder Fabricator | 28 (1.4%) |
| Shop Welder | 26 (1.3%) |
| Production Welder | 23 (1.2%) |
| Welder / Fabricator | 23 (1.2%) |
| Weld Operator | 22 (1.1%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Welder job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fabricator | 216 | 135 | – | – | attention to detail, communication, mig |
| TIG Welder | 133 | 91 | – | – | – |
| Pipe Welder | 184 | 86 | – | – | smaw, gtaw, attention to detail |
| Structural Welder | 100 | 56 | – | – | – |
Welder vs Fabricator
| Welder | Fabricator | |
|---|---|---|
| Open US postings | 2,017 | 216 |
| Employers | 969 | 135 |
| Median advertised pay | $25.71/hr | – |
| Median experience asked | 2 years | – |
| Skills that stand out | – | – |
Welder compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welder | $26.00/hr | 2 years | 5,235 | – |
| Millwright | – | 3 years | 855 | 13 |
| Assembler | $21.45/hr | 1 year | 6,799 | 15 |
| Machine Operator | $21.38/hr | 1 year | 20,043 | 15 |
| Auto Body Technician | $64K | 2 years | 5,208 | 14 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Millwright | 13 | – |
| Assembler | 15 | $21.45/hr |
| Machine Operator | 15 | $21.38/hr |
| Auto Body Technician | 14 | $64K |
| Manufacturing Technician | 12 | $25.00/hr |
| Mason | 15 | – |
Applying for welder jobs?
- Welder resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find welder jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a welder make an hour?
What are the highest-paying welder jobs?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 18 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.