TradeSalary

Welder salary in Santa Rosa, CA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the Santa Rosa–Petaluma, CA area earn a median of $56,720 a year, or $27.27 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $85,900 a year. That's 2% less than the California median of $58,060.

Median yearly pay$56,720
Bottom 10% under$46,260Top 10% over$85,900
Entry-level starting pay (estimate)
$22.24/hr
Jobs in this area
260
After cost of living
$52,620
Median hourly pay
$27.27/hr
vs U.S. median
+6%
vs California median
−2%
Mean (average) pay
$61,320 a year · $29.48 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 42220, Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA). Excludes self-employed welders. 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 welders in Santa Rosa, 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$22.24$46,260
25th percentile$23.73$49,360
Median (50th)$27.27$56,720
75th percentile$33.79$70,280
90th percentile$41.30$85,900

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

How Santa Rosa, CA compares

  • Santa Rosa ranks 10th of 25 California metro areas for welder pay.
  • Welders are less concentrated in the Santa Rosa area than nationally: 1.3 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.48 times the U.S. share.

Other California metro areas

Other trades in Santa Rosa, CA

Questions

Do welders make more in Santa Rosa or San Francisco?
San Francisco pays more: the median is $56,720 in Santa Rosa and $64,320 in San Francisco, a 12% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 51-4121 (Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers), area code 42220 (Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed welders 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 (107.8, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures