Ironworker salary in San Jose, CA
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Ironworkers in the San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara, CA area earn a median of $109,440 a year, or $52.62 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $130,590. Across all of California, the median is $76,370, so San Jose pays 43% more than the state as a whole.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $27.10/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 330
- After cost of living
- $99,110
- Median hourly pay
- $52.62/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +74%
- vs California median
- +43%
- Mean (average) pay
- $96,410 a year · $46.35 an hour
Pay by percentile
What ironworkers in San Jose, 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.
| Percentile | Hourly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $27.10 | $56,360 |
| 25th percentile | $34.15 | $71,040 |
| Median (50th) | $52.62 | $109,440 |
| 75th percentile | $54.65 | $113,670 |
| 90th percentile | $62.79 | $130,590 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How San Jose, CA compares
- San Jose has the highest ironworker median of the 15 California metro areas with published pay.
- Ironworkers are less concentrated in the San Jose area than nationally: 0.3 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.67 times the U.S. share.
Other California metro areas
Other trades in San Jose, CA
Questions
- Do ironworkers make more in San Jose or San Francisco?
- San Jose pays more: the median is $109,440 in San Jose and $87,340 in San Francisco, a 25% 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 41940 (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, 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 (110.4, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures