TradeSalary

Welder salary in Boulder, CO

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the Boulder, CO area earn a median of $65,040 a year, or $31.27 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $76,200 a year. Across all of Colorado, the median is $58,590, so Boulder pays 11% more than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$65,040
Bottom 10% under$46,350Top 10% over$76,200
Entry-level starting pay (estimate)
$22.28/hr
Jobs in this area
260
After cost of living
$61,820
Median hourly pay
$31.27/hr
vs U.S. median
+21%
vs Colorado median
+11%
Mean (average) pay
$62,840 a year · $30.21 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 14500, Boulder, CO). 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 Boulder, CO 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$22.28$46,350
25th percentile$23.65$49,190
Median (50th)$31.27$65,040
75th percentile$33.56$69,810
90th percentile$36.63$76,200

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

How Boulder, CO compares

  • Boulder has the highest welder median of the 7 Colorado metro areas with published pay.
  • Welders are less concentrated in the Boulder area than nationally: 1.3 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.50 times the U.S. share.

Other Colorado metro areas

Other trades in Boulder, CO

Questions

Do welders make more in Boulder or Fort Collins?
Boulder pays more: the median is $65,040 in Boulder and $59,660 in Fort Collins, a 9% 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 14500 (Boulder, CO). 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 (105.2, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures