The pay box above shows what Texas welding jobs are paying on our board right now. Texas is one of the states we cover best for welding, so there is real depth behind it.
Where these numbers come from
Two places, and we own both. The pay box at the top of this page reads live job ads on our board right now. The Tradesppl Hiring Index is our monthly count of every job posted on the board.
We never guess a wage. If a number is on this page, an employer put it in a job ad. Here is how we work the numbers out.
What August looked like
In our August 2026 Hiring Index, US welding jobs that named a wage paid $53,300 a year in the middle. Half paid more, half paid less. The middle half landed between $45,500 and $65,500, out of 73 ads.
That gap is the real story. Welding has the widest spread of any trade we track. What you weld and what tickets you hold move your pay more than your job title does.
Texas was the second busiest place in North America with 204 jobs posted. About 26% of Texas ads named a wage (transparency report).
What lifts you toward the top end
- What you weld. Production MIG sits at the bottom. TIG on stainless and alloy pays better. Pipe work, 6G especially, pays best.
- Your tickets. AWS structural tickets, and for pipe the 6G combos shops test you on before they hire. Welding ads name specific tickets more than any other trade does (the tickets employers ask for).
- Where you work. Shop fab pays least. Structural and plant work pays more. Pipeline and turnaround work pays most — Gulf Coast refineries and West Texas energy — because per diem and overtime pile on top of the rate.
- Rig welding. If you own your truck and machine you bill a day rate, so you sit outside wage figures altogether.
Work out your own number
- Pay calculator — put in your hourly rate and see your take-home, overtime included
- Welder jobs in Houston — what's open right now
- Hiring Index — this month's jobs, pay and hiring hot spots across every trade