TradeSalary

Ironworker salary in Riverside, CA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Ironworkers in the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario, CA area earn a median of $72,790 a year, or $34.99 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $105,570. Across all of California, the median is $76,370, so Riverside pays 5% less than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$72,790
Bottom 10% under$47,280Top 10% over$105,570
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$22.73/hr
Jobs in this area
1,120
After cost of living
$68,380
Median hourly pay
$34.99/hr
vs U.S. median
+16%
vs California median
−5%
Mean (average) pay
$74,480 a year · $35.81 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 40140, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, 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 Riverside, 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$22.73$47,280
25th percentile$23.60$49,090
Median (50th)$34.99$72,790
75th percentile$47.68$99,170
90th percentile$50.75$105,570

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

How Riverside, CA compares

  • Riverside ranks 12th of 15 California metro areas for ironworker pay.
  • Ironworkers are more concentrated in the Riverside area than nationally: 0.7 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.5 times the U.S. share.

Other California metro areas

Other trades in Riverside, CA

Questions

Do ironworkers make more in Riverside or San Jose?
San Jose pays more: the median is $72,790 in Riverside and $109,440 in San Jose, a 33% 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 40140 (Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, 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 (106.4, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures