Do welders make more in Mankato or St. Cloud?

St. Cloud pays more: the median is $52,940 in Mankato and $62,820 in St. Cloud, a 16% difference.

Welder salary in Mankato, MN

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the Mankato, MN area earn a median of $52,940 a year, or $25.45 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $65,410. Statewide, welders earn a median of $60,280; Mankato is 12% below it.

Median yearly pay$52,940

Bottom 10% under$42,740Top 10% over$65,410

Entry-level starting pay (estimate): $20.55/hr
Jobs in this area: 280
After cost of living: $58,200
Median hourly pay: $25.45/hr
vs U.S. median: −2%
vs Minnesota median: −12%
Mean (average) pay: $55,100 a year · $26.49 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 31860, Mankato, MN). 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 Mankato, MN 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	$20.55	$42,740
25th percentile	$23.47	$48,810
Median (50th)	$25.45	$52,940
75th percentile	$29.15	$60,640
90th percentile	$31.45	$65,410

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

How Mankato, MN compares

Mankato has the lowest welder median of the 9 Minnesota metro areas with published pay.
Welders are more concentrated in the Mankato area than nationally: 4.9 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.8 times the U.S. share.

Other Minnesota metro areas

Other trades in Mankato, MN

Electrician HVAC technician Plumber Diesel mechanic Carpenter Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic

Questions

Do welders make more in Mankato or St. Cloud?: St. Cloud pays more: the median is $52,940 in Mankato and $62,820 in St. Cloud, a 16% 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 31860 (Mankato, MN). 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 (91.0, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures