The Bureau of Labor Statistics has no occupation called TIG welder. TIG is a process, and BLS counts everyone who uses it inside one occupation - welders, cutters, solderers and brazers - which had a median wage of $48,940 in May 2023. What moves a welder's pay is not which process they run. It is which industry they run it in.
Welders, cutters, solderers and brazers: the national picture, May 2023
| Figure | |
|---|---|
| People employed in the US | 421,730 |
| Median annual wage | $48,940 |
| Mean annual wage | $52,640 |
| 10th percentile | $36,830 |
| 90th percentile | $72,970 |
Why TIG welder pay is the wrong question
A shop does not hire a TIG welder. It hires a welder to do a particular job to a particular code, and TIG happens to be the process that job needs. Nobody is paid more per hour for holding a torch instead of a gun; they are paid more because the work that requires a torch is harder to qualify for. What separates the two processes is control against speed, and the industries below are the ones that buy control.
That is why the interesting number is not the occupation's median but the spread between industries within it.
The industry is worth more than the state
The five highest-paying industries for welders, May 2023
| Industry | Annual mean wage |
|---|---|
| Scheduled air transportation | $102,900 |
| Electric power generation, transmission and distribution | $101,220 |
| Natural gas distribution | $98,890 |
| Petroleum and coal products manufacturing | $88,440 |
| Pipeline transportation of natural gas | $87,180 |
Against an occupation mean of $52,640. Welding on aircraft or on a power station pays close to double the average for the trade - not because the arc is different, but because the consequences of a bad weld are. This page used to repeat the claim that an underwater TIG welder can earn $300,000; that figure is wrong, wet welding is not a TIG process, and what commercial divers actually earn is a separate page with the BLS numbers on it.
States: highest paying against highest employing
| Highest annual mean wage | Most welders employed | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | $79,210 | Texas | 52,820 |
| Hawaii | $75,590 | California | 28,300 |
| District of Columbia | $66,860 | Ohio | 19,750 |
| Wyoming | $65,730 | Wisconsin | 17,440 |
| Rhode Island | $63,110 | Illinois | 17,280 |
The two columns share no entries. Where the welders are is not where the money is, and the gap between the best-paying state and the national mean - about $26,000 - is still smaller than the gap between the best-paying industry and the national mean, which is about $50,000. Choose the industry first.
Where TIG specifically sits
Look at that industry list again. Aircraft, power generation, gas distribution, refining, pipelines. What they have in common is code-quality welds on stainless, aluminium, nickel alloys and thin wall - which is TIG work, and work that has to be qualified before you are allowed to do it. That is the honest route to the top of this table: not a process, a certification to a code, and the weld test that proves it.
It also explains why a TIG welder in a small fabrication shop earns the same as the MIG welder at the next bench. The process is not the differentiator - the industry, the code and the qualification are. None of which makes TIG less worth learning: running one well is what gets you through those tests, and our comparison of TIG machines covers what to practise on.
We have not welded for a living and cannot tell you what a pay packet looks like from the inside. The video above is a working pipeline welder giving his own numbers, which is first-hand in a way this page is not.
What actually raises your number
In rough order of effect
Each of these moves the figure more than getting faster at TIG does.
- Move into one of the industries at the top of that table. Nearly double the occupation mean, and the single biggest lever there is
- Get qualified to a code - ASME Section IX for pressure work, API 1104 for pipelines, AWS D1.1 for structure. The high-paying industries cannot legally hire you without it
- Add pipe to your plate qualifications. 6G is the test that opens most of the rest
- Be willing to travel or to work remote sites. Alaska tops the state table for a reason, and it is not the cost of living alone
- Learn to read a weld procedure specification. A welder who can follow a WPS without supervision is a different hire from one who cannot
Frequently asked questions
How much does a TIG welder make?
There is no separate BLS figure for TIG welders, because TIG is a process rather than an occupation. Welders, cutters, solderers and brazers had a median annual wage of $48,940 in May 2023, with the 10th percentile at $36,830 and the 90th at $72,970. Where a welder sits in that range depends mostly on their industry.
Which industry pays welders the most?
Scheduled air transportation, at an annual mean of $102,900 in May 2023, followed by electric power generation at $101,220 and natural gas distribution at $98,890. The occupation's overall mean is $52,640, so those industries pay close to double.
Which state pays welders the most?
Alaska, at an annual mean of $79,210, then Hawaii at $75,590 and the District of Columbia at $66,860. None of them is a big employer of welders - Texas employs the most at 52,820 - which is the usual pattern: pay follows scarcity and remoteness rather than headcount.
Does TIG pay more than MIG?
Not by itself. Two welders in the same shop running different processes are generally on the same rate. TIG is associated with higher pay because the industries that require it - aerospace, power, pipelines, refining - pay more, and because getting qualified to work in them takes longer.
Do underwater TIG welders earn $300,000?
No, and that figure has been removed from this page. TIG is not the process used for underwater welding in any case - wet welding is done with stick. Commercial divers, the occupation underwater welders belong to, had a median wage of $61,300 in May 2023 with a 90th percentile of $136,990.
Sources
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics - Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023: Welders, Cutters, Solderers and Brazers (51-4121), including the state and industry tables
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook - Welders, Cutters, Solderers and Brazers
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics - Commercial Divers (49-9092), May 2023
- American Welding Society - Certified Welder Program
- Austin Ross - what pipeline welders actually make
In short
A welder's median wage was $48,940 in May 2023, and the process they run is not what decides where in the range they land. The industry is: welding for an airline or a power utility pays a mean close to $102,000, nearly double the trade's average, and the way in is a code qualification rather than a faster hand on the pedal. If you want the TIG work that pays, go and get tested to the code that work uses.