The US labor market is on the cusp of transformation as the nation faces worker shortages, especially within skilled trades.
This evolving landscape underscores an important truth too often overlooked: a four-year college degree isn't the sole path to a fulfilling career and a stable income. Many lucrative and essential professions, particularly within the skilled trades, offer comfortable wages and significant career growth potential without requiring a traditional university education.
Given this, we delved into an analysis of one particular trade to give context to the larger whole. Let’s look at welders’ wages across the United States.
States where welders earn the most and least
In 2024, the top 5 highest earning states for welders were:
Alaska
Rhode Island
Hawaii
Connecticut
Delaware
The bottom 5 were:
Arkansas
Tennessee
Mississippi
Iowa
South Dakota
A look at Cost of Living (CoL)
But there’s another important layer of analysis: cost of living (CoL). Welders might make the most money in Alaska, but how far will that money get you in Alaska, based on how expensive it is to live there? When welders earnings are adjusted for cost of living, we get an entirely different result.
With CoL adjustment, the top 10th percentile in West Virginia, New Mexico, Louisiana, Wyoming, Delaware, Nevada, Missouri, and Texas make more than the top 10th percentile in Alaska.
While welders in Alaska might make the most money, that money has less purchasing power than in other states.
Have welding job opportunties seen growth?
In 37 states and the District of Columbia, the number of welding jobs has increased since 2020.
Rhode Island had the biggest percent change from 2020 to 2024 at 55% growth. You'll also note that Rhode Island is tops for welder wages (see chart above), which signals people are going where the money is.
In conclusion
The opportunities for high-wage, high-skill jobs that don't require a traditional four-year degree are out there, and are on pace for continued increased demand, given the aging population of the US and the retirement of many of these tradespeople with fewer up and coming apprentices to replace them.
More context for welder as an occupation can be found via our Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy overview, including top skills needed, and current job openings. And you can dig into further data on salaries, postings and more via our Lightcast Analyst tool.
