Do welders make more in Lawrence or St. Joseph?

St. Joseph pays more: the median is $48,180 in Lawrence and $66,060 in St. Joseph, a 27% difference.

Welder salary in Lawrence, KS

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the Lawrence, KS area earn a median of $48,180 a year, or $23.16 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $64,050 a year. That's 2% less than the Kansas median of $49,410.

Median yearly pay$48,180

Bottom 10% under$37,840Top 10% over$64,050

Entry-level starting pay (estimate): $18.19/hr
Jobs in this area: 70
After cost of living: $53,390
Median hourly pay: $23.16/hr
vs U.S. median: −10%
vs Kansas median: −2%
Mean (average) pay: $51,370 a year · $24.70 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 29940, Lawrence, KS). 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 Lawrence, KS 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	$18.19	$37,840
25th percentile	$21.80	$45,340
Median (50th)	$23.16	$48,180
75th percentile	$28.48	$59,230
90th percentile	$30.79	$64,050

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

How Lawrence, KS compares

Lawrence ranks 6th of 7 Kansas metro areas for welder pay.
Welders are less concentrated in the Lawrence area than nationally: 1.4 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.51 times the U.S. share.

Other Kansas metro areas

Other trades in Lawrence, KS

Electrician HVAC technician Plumber Carpenter Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic

Questions

Do welders make more in Lawrence or St. Joseph?: St. Joseph pays more: the median is $48,180 in Lawrence and $66,060 in St. Joseph, a 27% 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 29940 (Lawrence, KS). 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 (90.2, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures