TradeSalary

Welder salary in Grand Island, NE

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the Grand Island, NE area earn a median of $48,940 a year, or $23.53 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $60,860. Across all of Nebraska, the median is $52,220, so Grand Island pays 6% less than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$48,940
Bottom 10% under$43,010Top 10% over$60,860
Entry-level starting pay (estimate)
$20.68/hr
Jobs in this area
170
After cost of living
$56,480
Median hourly pay
$23.53/hr
vs U.S. median
−9%
vs Nebraska median
−6%
Mean (average) pay
$52,630 a year · $25.31 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 24260, Grand Island, NE). 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 Grand Island, NE 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$20.68$43,010
25th percentile$23.25$48,360
Median (50th)$23.53$48,940
75th percentile$27.62$57,440
90th percentile$29.26$60,860

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

How Grand Island, NE compares

  • Grand Island has the lowest welder median of the 4 Nebraska metro areas with published pay.
  • Welders are more concentrated in the Grand Island area than nationally: 4.2 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.6 times the U.S. share.

Other Nebraska metro areas

Other trades in Grand Island, NE

Questions

Do welders make more in Grand Island or Sioux City?
Sioux City pays more: the median is $48,940 in Grand Island and $58,230 in Sioux City, 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 24260 (Grand Island, NE). 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 (86.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures