Salary Guide SOC 47-2111

Electrician vs Welder Salary: BLS May 2025 Gap

May 2025 BLS medians: electricians $63,190, welders $53,750. Percentile bands, outlook, and entry paths compared.

Last updated 2026-10-29 · Wage data: May 2025 (BLS)

Key figures

Electricians earned a median of $63,190 a year in May 2025 and welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers $53,750, per BLS — a $9,440 median gap favoring electricians. Electricians projected 9% employment growth from 2025 to 2035; welding-related workers 2%. Both occupations typically start from a high school diploma, but electricians more often complete a 4- or 5-year apprenticeship with licensing exams.

Electricians: Annual Wage by Percentile (May 2025, U.S. national)

10th percentile

$42,640

Median

$63,190

90th percentile

$108,510

Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Electricians, May 2025.

Tool

See where your salary stands

Enter your own pay as a electricians, either annual or hourly, and this tool locates it against the BLS wage percentiles above.

BLS publishes a median hourly wage of $30.38 for this occupation; that real figure is used as the hourly reference. Your own hourly-to-annual conversion assumes 2,080 hours/year (BLS full-time convention).

Calculated client-side from BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Electricians, May 2025. Not personalized career, financial, or tax advice.

Electricians: Annual Median Wage by State (May 2025, BLS state estimates)

The national median above blends every state into one number. BLS also publishes electricians pay by state, and the 51 figures below can differ from that national median by tens of thousands of dollars depending on where you work. This is a separate BLS dataset (state OEWS estimates), not a breakdown of the national percentiles above it.

Find your state:

State	10th percentile	Median	90th percentile
Oregon	$59,550	$101,310	$131,530
Illinois	$49,240	$99,560	$123,660
Hawaii	$45,730	$96,460	$124,590
Washington	$52,170	$95,220	$133,950
Alaska	$58,420	$89,440	$123,200
Massachusetts	$46,990	$79,420	$128,210
District of Columbia	$51,950	$78,970	$125,790
New York	$45,740	$78,750	$131,640
Minnesota	$47,480	$78,160	$118,820
Connecticut	$47,680	$77,540	$104,280
New Jersey	$48,570	$77,250	$130,860
Montana	$49,130	$76,760	$89,510
Wisconsin	$44,830	$76,540	$101,770
Michigan	$42,980	$76,270	$103,120
California	$46,800	$76,160	$140,340
Wyoming	$48,240	$76,120	$104,000
Maine	$54,180	$75,380	$115,720
Rhode Island	$42,990	$74,090	$102,840
Nevada	$46,110	$73,570	$121,200
Maryland	$46,450	$73,490	$118,370
Indiana	$43,190	$68,490	$99,310
Pennsylvania	$45,600	$67,600	$122,620
Kansas	$42,660	$65,860	$96,830
North Dakota	$46,440	$65,710	$101,020
Missouri	$43,860	$65,410	$104,060
West Virginia	$43,620	$64,810	$95,140
Ohio	$40,750	$64,700	$99,280
Delaware	$38,280	$63,700	$105,340
Vermont	$47,470	$63,430	$132,080
Idaho	$38,830	$63,000	$95,470
Virginia	$40,780	$62,900	$105,720
New Hampshire	$43,190	$62,840	$91,850
Colorado	$45,520	$62,230	$94,160
Utah	$39,940	$62,000	$89,110
Louisiana	$38,750	$61,540	$81,810
South Dakota	$44,320	$61,390	$80,060
Tennessee	$39,600	$61,090	$92,160
Arizona	$45,540	$61,060	$89,600
Oklahoma	$37,900	$61,010	$92,740
Iowa	$39,770	$60,860	$89,480
Mississippi	$38,200	$60,860	$76,540
Nebraska	$40,400	$60,820	$94,040
Kentucky	$37,110	$59,720	$85,260
South Carolina	$44,330	$58,740	$77,800
Texas	$37,920	$58,570	$80,300
New Mexico	$36,650	$58,390	$86,830
Georgia	$37,180	$58,320	$84,000
Florida	$38,190	$57,250	$77,180
North Carolina	$40,130	$56,800	$75,060
Alabama	$37,640	$55,690	$78,230
Arkansas	$34,910	$49,070	$74,460

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, state estimates, May 2025. If your state is missing, BLS did not publish a wage estimate for this occupation there that year; it does not mean the wage was zero.

Industry (May 2025)	Median annual wage
Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals	$79,820
Manufacturing	$74,550
Electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors	$61,570
Employment services	$57,760

Jobs (2025)

821,000

Outlook (2025-35)

Employment change

+75,900

Typical entry education

High school diploma or equivalent

Pay spread side by side (May 2025)

Measure	Electricians (47-2111)	Welders (51-4121)
Median annual wage	$63,190	$53,750
10th percentile	< $42,640	< $39,240
90th percentile	> $108,510	> $77,530
Projected growth 2025–35	9%	2%

Deep dives: electrician salary, welder salary. Linework pays higher ($95,320 median) with different risks — is being a lineman dangerous.

Training shape (BLS descriptions)

Electricians typically apprentice four to five years with licensing exams afterward. Welders may enter via vocational programs, employer training, or military pipelines — see what a welder does and how to become an electrician.

BLS does not attribute the median gap to any single factor. Treat the table as national OEWS context, not a prediction for one job offer.

Frequently asked questions

Do electricians make more than welders?

Yes on May 2025 medians: $63,190 vs $53,750, a $9,440 difference nationally.

Which trade is projected to grow faster?

Electricians (9% projected 2025–35) versus welders (2%) in BLS Employment Projections.

Sources

Cite this

WageLark Editorial, “Electrician vs Welder Salary: BLS May 2025 Gap,” WageLark, published October 29, 2026, https://wagelark.com/electrician-vs-welder-salary/.

This page reports government wage statistics for informational purposes. It is not personalized career, financial, or legal advice, and does not endorse or recommend any specific employer, school, or training program.