TradeSalary

Welder salary in Memphis, TN-MS-AR

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Welders in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR area earn a median of $48,600 a year, or $23.37 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $65,280. Across all of Tennessee, the median is $48,040, so Memphis pays 1% more than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$48,600
Bottom 10% under$38,620Top 10% over$65,280
Entry-level starting pay (estimate)
$18.57/hr
Jobs in this area
1,590
After cost of living
$52,720
Median hourly pay
$23.37/hr
vs U.S. median
−10%
vs Tennessee median
+1%
Mean (average) pay
$51,050 a year · $24.55 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 32820, Memphis, TN-MS-AR). 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 Memphis, TN-MS-AR 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$18.57$38,620
25th percentile$20.31$42,240
Median (50th)$23.37$48,600
75th percentile$27.64$57,480
90th percentile$31.38$65,280

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

How Memphis, TN-MS-AR compares

  • Memphis ranks 5th of 10 Tennessee metro areas for welder pay.
  • Welders hold about the same share of jobs in the Memphis area as nationally: 2.6 of every 1,000 jobs.

Other Tennessee metro areas

Other trades in Memphis, TN-MS-AR

Questions

Do welders make more in Memphis or Clarksville?
Clarksville pays more: the median is $48,600 in Memphis and $52,970 in Clarksville, a 8% 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 32820 (Memphis, TN-MS-AR). 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 (92.2, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures