Do welders make more in St. Cloud or Minneapolis?

St. Cloud pays more: the median is $62,820 in St. Cloud and $61,880 in Minneapolis, a 2% difference.

Welder salary in St. Cloud, MN

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the St. Cloud, MN area earn a median of $62,820 a year, or $30.20 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $80,540. Across all of Minnesota, the median is $60,280, so St. Cloud pays 4% more than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$62,820

Bottom 10% under$48,510Top 10% over$80,540

Entry-level starting pay (estimate): $23.32/hr
Jobs in this area: 620
After cost of living: $71,690
Median hourly pay: $30.20/hr
vs U.S. median: +17%
vs Minnesota median: +4%
Mean (average) pay: $62,930 a year · $30.26 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 41060, St. Cloud, 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 St. Cloud, 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	$23.32	$48,510
25th percentile	$27.32	$56,830
Median (50th)	$30.20	$62,820
75th percentile	$32.77	$68,160
90th percentile	$38.72	$80,540

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

How St. Cloud, MN compares

St. Cloud has the highest welder median of the 9 Minnesota metro areas with published pay.
Welders are more concentrated in the St. Cloud area than nationally: 5.9 of every 1,000 jobs, 2.2 times the U.S. share.

Other Minnesota metro areas

Other trades in St. Cloud, MN

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

Questions

Do welders make more in St. Cloud or Minneapolis?: St. Cloud pays more: the median is $62,820 in St. Cloud and $61,880 in Minneapolis, a 2% 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 41060 (St. Cloud, 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 (87.6, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures