Ironworker salary in Detroit, MI
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Ironworkers in the Detroit–Warren–Dearborn, MI area earn a median of $62,870 a year, or $30.23 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $79,150 a year. That's about the same as the Michigan median of $62,830.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $19.84/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 930
- After cost of living
- $62,680
- Median hourly pay
- $30.23/hr
- vs U.S. median
- 0%
- vs Michigan median
- 0%
- Mean (average) pay
- $63,340 a year · $30.45 an hour
Pay by percentile
What ironworkers in Detroit, MI 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 | $19.84 | $41,260 |
| 25th percentile | $22.04 | $45,840 |
| Median (50th) | $30.23 | $62,870 |
| 75th percentile | $37.11 | $77,180 |
| 90th percentile | $38.05 | $79,150 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Detroit, MI compares
- Detroit ranks 3rd of 4 Michigan metro areas for ironworker pay.
- Ironworkers are more concentrated in the Detroit area than nationally: 0.5 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.1 times the U.S. share.
Other Michigan metro areas
Other trades in Detroit, MI
Questions
- Do ironworkers make more in Detroit or South Bend?
- South Bend pays more: the median is $62,870 in Detroit and $73,640 in South Bend, a 15% 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 19820 (Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI). 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 (100.3, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures