Welder salary in Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Welders in the Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD area earn a median of $58,380 a year, or $28.07 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $79,960 a year. Across all of Pennsylvania, the median is $52,900, so Philadelphia pays 10% more than the state as a whole.
- Entry-level starting pay (estimate)
- $21.36/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 4,630
- After cost of living
- $56,930
- Median hourly pay
- $28.07/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +9%
- vs Pennsylvania median
- +10%
- Mean (average) pay
- $60,650 a year · $29.16 an hour
Pay by percentile
What welders in Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD 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 | $21.36 | $44,430 |
| 25th percentile | $23.90 | $49,700 |
| Median (50th) | $28.07 | $58,380 |
| 75th percentile | $33.12 | $68,890 |
| 90th percentile | $38.44 | $79,960 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD compares
- Philadelphia has the highest welder median of the 16 Pennsylvania metro areas with published pay.
- Welders are less concentrated in the Philadelphia area than nationally: 1.6 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.60 times the U.S. share.
Other Pennsylvania metro areas
Other trades in Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD
Questions
- Do welders make more in Philadelphia or Reading?
- Philadelphia pays more: the median is $58,380 in Philadelphia and $54,840 in Reading, a 6% 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 37980 (Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD). 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 (102.6, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures