TradeSalary

Ironworker salary in Chico, CA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Ironworkers in the Chico, CA area earn a median of $88,070 a year, or $42.34 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $124,470. Across all of California, the median is $76,370, so Chico pays 15% more than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$88,070
Bottom 10% under$48,500Top 10% over$124,470
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$23.32/hr
Jobs in this area
50
After cost of living
$87,030
Median hourly pay
$42.34/hr
vs U.S. median
+40%
vs California median
+15%
Mean (average) pay
$90,070 a year · $43.30 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 17020, Chico, CA). Excludes self-employed ironworkers. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What ironworkers in Chico, CA earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

PercentileHourlyYearly
10th percentile$23.32$48,500
25th percentile$33.12$68,900
Median (50th)$42.34$88,070
75th percentile$59.84$124,470
90th percentile$59.84$124,470

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Chico, CA compares

  • Chico ranks 3rd of 15 California metro areas for ironworker pay.
  • Ironworkers are more concentrated in the Chico area than nationally: 0.7 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.6 times the U.S. share.

Other California metro areas

Other trades in Chico, CA

Questions

Do ironworkers make more in Chico or San Francisco?
Chico pays more: the median is $88,070 in Chico and $87,340 in San Francisco, a 1% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2221 (Structural Iron and Steel Workers), area code 17020 (Chico, CA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed ironworkers and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (101.2, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures