Production
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
Use hand-welding, flame-cutting, hand-soldering, or brazing equipment to weld or join metal components or to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products.
MAY 2025 · OCCUPATIONAL WAGES
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
Source wage group: Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Median annual wage$53,750USD per year · Published 50th percentile
Median hourly wage$25.84USD per hour · Published 50th percentile
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $39,240 | $18.87 |
| 25th | $46,790 | $22.50 |
| 50th · Median | $53,750 | $25.84 |
| 75th | $63,010 | $30.29 |
| 90th | $77,530 | $37.28 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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Compare 51 state/DC wage marketsTHE WORK BEHIND THE TITLE
What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Acetylene BurnerAcetylene CutterAcetylene OperatorAcetylene Torch BurnerAcetylene Torch OperatorAcetylene Torch SoldererAluminum WelderArc CutterArc WedlerArc WelderAssembler BrazerAssembly Line Brazer
Expand more title examples (48)
Atomic WelderBar WelderBarrel Ribs SoldererBasin Finish OperatorBit WelderBlade WorkerBlow Torch BurnerBlow Torch OperatorBody WelderBoiler WelderBonderBrazerBrazing Furnace OperatorBurnerButt WelderCan SoldererCertified Maintenance WelderCombination WelderConnectorCutting Torch OperatorDeicer FinisherDie WelderDip BrazierDipperElectric Arc WelderElectric SoldererElectric Spot WelderElectric WelderElectrical SoldererExperimental WelderFabrication WelderFilament WelderFlame BurnerFlame CutterFlash WelderFrame WelderGas BrazerGas Burner OperatorGas CutterGas Torch BrazierGas Torch SoldererGas WelderGetter WelderGun WelderHand Thermal CutterHeliarc WelderHelium Arc WelderInduction Heating Equipment Setter
Typical tasks
- Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits.
- Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications.
- Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions.
- Detect faulty operation of equipment or defective materials and notify supervisors.
- Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment.
- Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications or types and thicknesses of metals.
Expand more tasks (24)
- Mark or tag material with proper job number, piece marks, and other identifying marks as required.
- Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques.
- Prepare all material surfaces to be welded, ensuring that there is no loose or thick scale, slag, rust, moisture, grease, or other foreign matter.
- Align and clamp workpieces together, using rules, squares, or hand tools, or position items in fixtures, jigs, or vises.
- Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained.
- Position and secure workpieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools.
- Melt and apply solder along adjoining edges of workpieces to solder joints, using soldering irons, gas torches, or electric-ultrasonic equipment.
- Monitor the fitting, burning, and welding processes to avoid overheating of parts or warping, shrinking, distortion, or expansion of material.
- Grind, cut, buff, or bend edges of workpieces to be joined to ensure snug fit, using power grinders and hand tools.
- Weld separately or in combination, using aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and other alloys.
- Chip or grind off excess weld, slag, or spatter, using hand scrapers or power chippers, portable grinders, or arc-cutting equipment.
- Develop templates and models for welding projects, using mathematical calculations based on blueprint information.
- Repair products by dismantling, straightening, reshaping, and reassembling parts, using cutting torches, straightening presses, and hand tools.
- Clean or degrease parts, using wire brushes, portable grinders, or chemical baths.
- Hammer out bulges or bends in metal workpieces.
- Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments.
- Melt and apply solder to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products, using soldering equipment.
- Ignite torches or start power supplies and strike arcs by touching electrodes to metals being welded, completing electrical circuits.
- Guide and direct flames or electrodes on or across workpieces to straighten, bend, melt, or build up metal.
- Use fire suppression methods in industrial emergencies.
- Preheat workpieces prior to welding or bending, using torches or heating furnaces.
- Set up and use ladders and scaffolding as necessary to complete work.
- Operate metal shaping, straightening, and bending machines, such as brakes and shears.
- Analyze engineering drawings, blueprints, specifications, sketches, work orders, and material safety data sheets to plan layout, assembly, and operations.
Skills used in this work
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Expand more skills (29)
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
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