> Welders at the 90th percentile of income for the profession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, earn $63,000 a year before taxes. Those are, statist

> Welders at the 90th percentile of income for the profession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, earn $63,000 a year before taxes. Those are, statistically, the top earners, and they are usually expert welders with decades of experience. I know one anecdote doesn't mean much, but I have two friends who are making around $100k/year as stick welders (boiler type work) in the New Jersey area. They do more than just weld though - I'd say that 50% of their job is actually welding and the other 50% is miscellaneous boiler repair work. One of them has only been doing it for about 4 years, after going to a two year school. My other friend is making around $80k/year as a "burner mechanic" with absolutely no schooling at all. His only prior experience was that he was a DirecTV installer. He is very mechanically inclined though. The key is getting into one of those companies that does work at state locations - I'm not sure exactly how this all works, but it's something like "if you're working on a state site, you have to get paid the prevailing wage", which is usually very high. Couple that with overtime and you'll see welders making $80+ an hour. I'm sure there are welders who make far less, but that's probably the case with any industry. My friends are probably at a gig equivalent to FAANG in the software world.