Do welders make more in Slidell or Baton Rouge?

Baton Rouge pays more: the median is $60,810 in Slidell and $78,170 in Baton Rouge, a 22% difference.

Welder salary in Slidell, LA

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the Slidell–Mandeville–Covington, LA area earn a median of $60,810 a year, or $29.24 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $75,390. Across all of Louisiana, the median is $62,250, so Slidell pays 2% less than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$60,810

Bottom 10% under$30,960Top 10% over$75,390

Entry-level starting pay (estimate): $14.88/hr
Jobs in this area: 330
After cost of living: $65,580
Median hourly pay: $29.24/hr
vs U.S. median: +13%
vs Louisiana median: −2%
Mean (average) pay: $56,410 a year · $27.12 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 43640, Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA). 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 Slidell, LA 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	$14.88	$30,960
25th percentile	$22.31	$46,390
Median (50th)	$29.24	$60,810
75th percentile	$30.42	$63,280
90th percentile	$36.25	$75,390

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

How Slidell, LA compares

Slidell ranks 6th of 10 Louisiana metro areas for welder pay.
Welders are more concentrated in the Slidell area than nationally: 3.4 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.3 times the U.S. share.

Other Louisiana metro areas

Questions

Do welders make more in Slidell or Baton Rouge?: Baton Rouge pays more: the median is $60,810 in Slidell and $78,170 in Baton Rouge, a 22% 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 43640 (Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA). 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 (92.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures