Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers · SOC 51-4121

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazerss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 382 metro areas

Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Lima, OH	$85,790	470	9.5
2	Urban Honolulu, HI	$81,120	430	1.0
3	Fairbanks-College, AK	$80,210	70	2.0
4	Baton Rouge, LA	$78,170	3,690	9.0
5	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$75,040	670	1.1
6	Anchorage, AK	$74,000	250	1.4
7	Lake Charles, LA	$72,920	970	9.5
8	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$71,720	740	7.9
9	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$67,280	40	0.6
10	Portland-South Portland, ME	$66,420	1,060	3.7
11	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$66,240	3,230	1.5
12	St. Joseph, MO-KS	$66,060	610	11.3
13	Boulder, CO	$65,040	260	1.3
14	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$64,720	260	2.0
15	Alexandria, LA	$64,490	230	3.8
16	Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA	$64,470	390	7.5
17	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$64,320	1,990	0.8
18	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$64,140	1,050	0.9
19	Vallejo, CA	$63,860	280	1.9
20	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$63,770	2,210	0.8
21	Bellingham, WA	$63,720	320	3.5
22	Shreveport-Bossier City, LA	$63,610	910	5.6
23	Odessa, TX	$63,470	790	9.8
24	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$63,460	140	1.2
25	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$63,440	210	0.5

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.