How to Become a Welder: Certification, Licensing & Pay
Welders join, cut, and shape metal using heat, electric arcs, or lasers to build and repair everything from pipelines and structural steel to ships and vehicle frames. Unlike electricians and plumbers, welding generally isn’t a state-licensed trade — most welders prove their skill through performance-based certification tests rather than a government licensing exam.
Apprenticeship Path
Many welders train through a technical school or community college welding program, typically 6 months to 2 years, covering blueprint reading, metallurgy, and hands-on practice with different welding processes. Others enter through a registered apprenticeship sponsored by a union or employer, which runs 3 to 4 years and combines paid on-the-job training with related classroom instruction.
Certification & Licensing
Instead of a state license, most welders demonstrate competency by passing a performance-based welder qualification test tied to a specific process, material, and position — most commonly through the American Welding Society's Certified Welder program. Certifications are typically valid for a few years before requiring a retest, and many employers or specific jobs (structural steel, pipelines, pressure vessels) require their own qualification test on top of any general certification.
Which certification a job requires depends on the employer, industry, and welding code involved — verify what a specific job or contract calls for before you rely on it.
Welder Pay
The median welder in the US earned $53,750 per year as of May 2025 — the middle 80% earned between $39,240 and $77,530.
Pay varies a lot by location. See the highest-paying states and highest-paying cities for welders, both ranked from BLS OEWS data.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers (SOC 51-4121), May 2025.
OEWS is published once a year, not continuously — "May 2025" is BLS's label for that annual release, not a live figure. See methodology.
Job Outlook
The BLS projects employment of welders to grow 2% from 2024–34, slower than the average for all occupations, with about 45,600 openings projected each year on average (most from workers transferring to other occupations or retiring, not net-new growth alone).
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers, 2024–34 projections.
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Sources & Last Updated
Pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers (SOC 51-4121), May 2025.
Job outlook: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers, 2024–34 projections.
Certification: AWS Certified Welder Program.
Licensing and apprenticeship requirements vary by state — start with the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational license finder or apprenticeship.gov.
Full source list: methodology.
Last updated: May 2025.