Do welders make more in Albany or Portland?

Albany pays more: the median is $62,790 in Albany and $62,050 in Portland, a 1% difference.

Welder salary in Albany, OR

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the Albany, OR area earn a median of $62,790 a year, or $30.19 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $78,310 a year. Statewide, welders earn a median of $59,450; Albany is 6% above it.

Median yearly pay$62,790

Bottom 10% under$46,980Top 10% over$78,310

Entry-level starting pay (estimate): $22.59/hr
Jobs in this area: 280
After cost of living: $61,500
Median hourly pay: $30.19/hr
vs U.S. median: +17%
vs Oregon median: +6%
Mean (average) pay: $61,850 a year · $29.74 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 10540, Albany, OR). 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 Albany, OR 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	$22.59	$46,980
25th percentile	$23.84	$49,600
Median (50th)	$30.19	$62,790
75th percentile	$32.53	$67,670
90th percentile	$37.65	$78,310

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

How Albany, OR compares

Albany has the highest welder median of the 8 Oregon metro areas with published pay.
Welders are more concentrated in the Albany area than nationally: 6.0 of every 1,000 jobs, 2.2 times the U.S. share.

Other Oregon metro areas

Other trades in Albany, OR

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

Questions

Do welders make more in Albany or Portland?: Albany pays more: the median is $62,790 in Albany and $62,050 in Portland, a 1% 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 10540 (Albany, OR). 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 (102.1, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures