How Much Do Welders Make in North Carolina?

A welder in North Carolina earned a median of $50,590 a year in May 2025, or $24.32 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That trails the national median of $53,750. But the state figure hides a wide split between metros. Welders around Greenville, Raleigh and Charlotte earned medians of $56,070 or more, while those around Winston-Salem and Hickory earned $46,370 and $46,080.

If you are choosing where to train, it pays to know which part of the state you want to work in.

What a North Carolina Welder Earns in a Year

Here is the full statewide spread for welders, cutters, solderers and brazers, May 2025:

• Lowest tenth: $38,540 or less. This is where many first jobs start.
• Lowest quarter: $45,400 or less.
• Median: $50,590, or $24.32 an hour.
• Average (mean): $53,720.
• Top quarter: $60,870 or more.
• Top tenth: $71,240 or more.

Compared with the national figures, North Carolina’s floor is close ($39,240 nationally for the lowest tenth), but its top end is lower ($77,530 nationally for the top tenth). In other words, entry pay here is about average, and the ceiling for plain production welding sits a bit lower than in some states. Moving up usually means moving into a better-paying metro or into one of the related jobs further down this page.

North Carolina employed 11,750 welders in May 2025.

Welder Pay by North Carolina Metro Area

Here are May 2025 figures for 14 metro areas that include part of North Carolina, sorted from highest median pay to lowest.

Two patterns jump out. The Hampton Roads metro, which reaches across the Virginia line into northeastern North Carolina, pays the most by a wide margin. And the manufacturing belt west of Greensboro, around Winston-Salem and Hickory, pays the least, even though Winston-Salem has one of the larger welding workforces in the state. Its top tenth still earned $73,680 or more, so experienced welders there do well.

The East: Hampton Roads, Greenville and Goldsboro

The best pay in the table sits on the Virginia side of the state line, but eastern North Carolina schools put you within reach of it.

College of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City is the closest school on the list to Hampton Roads. It offers a welding diploma plus basic and advanced certificates, with pipe and robotic welding in the mix, and conferred 93 welding awards in 2024–25.

For the Greenville market ($57,360 median), Pitt Community College in Winterville is next door. It conferred 136 welding awards in 2024–25 and prepares you to certify with AWS and ASME on pipe and plate in carbon steel, stainless and aluminum. You can finish the AAS in four semesters full time or stretch it to ten part time.

Around Goldsboro and Rocky Mount, where medians run a little under the state figure, Wayne Community College offers a diploma with an evening option, and Nash Community College in Rocky Mount teaches pipe and robotic welding.

Raleigh and Charlotte: The Two Big Markets

These two metros combine solid pay with lots of openings.

Raleigh-Cary ($56,940 median). Wake Technical Community College conferred 192 welding awards in 2024–25, the most in North Carolina. You can take the AAS by day, the diploma by day or evening, or the certificate in the evening. Johnston Community College in Smithfield, southeast of Raleigh, is an AWS accredited testing facility. Look at the Wake Forest welding schools page for more nearby. Durham, next door, pays less, at a $49,280 median.

Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia ($56,070 median). With 3,370 welders, this is the largest welding job market based in North Carolina, and its top tenth earned $75,910 or more. Central Piedmont Community College is an AWS accredited test facility. Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in Salisbury lets you take an optional AWS certification test at the end of each semester. Gaston College in Dallas and NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, a private 36-week program, round out the area. See the Charlotte and Lake Norman of Catawba pages.

The Triad, Mountains and Foothills

Greensboro-High Point ($54,180 median). Pay here beats the state median, and with 1,180 welders it is one of the larger markets. Davidson-Davie Community College in Thomasville, between Greensboro-High Point and Winston-Salem, runs a one-year welding diploma that starts each fall. To the east, Alamance Community College in Graham sits in the Burlington metro ($50,740) and prepares you to test for AWS certification in stick and MIG.

Winston-Salem ($46,370 median). The median is low, but the top tenth earned $73,680 or more, higher than in Raleigh or Greensboro. Forsyth Technical Community College is an AWS accredited testing facility and teaches robotic welding, with a diploma you can take by day or evening.

Asheville ($52,540 median). Pay is just above the state median. Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College offers a 16-credit robotic welding certificate alongside its AAS. Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock conferred 105 welding awards in 2024–25, and Haywood Community College in Clyde rounds out the area. See the Asheville welding schools page.

Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton ($46,080 median). This is the lowest-paying metro on the list, but training here is inexpensive and busy. Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory conferred 116 welding awards in 2024–25 and teaches robotic welding. Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton and Caldwell Community College in Hudson also serve the area.

Farther south, Cleveland Community College serves the Shelby area; see the Shelby page.

Where Welding Can Take You Next

Welding skills open doors to jobs that pay well above the welder median. These are North Carolina medians for May 2025:

• Welding sales representative: $125,370
• Welding engineer: $112,450
• Welding supervisor: $69,640
• Millwright: $62,990
• Welding instructor: $62,390
• Ironworker: $48,740
• Robotic welding technician: $47,580
• Welding inspector: $46,430

Supervision is the broadest step up, with 22,240 first-line production supervisors in the state. Millwright work ($62,990) and teaching ($62,390) both clear the welder median by a wide margin. Sales and engineering are the six-figure paths.

Ironworkers and robotic welding technicians in North Carolina earned slightly less than the welder median, so don’t pick those paths for pay alone here. Code certifications and pipe skills are worth a look instead: see the welding certification guide and the pipe welder career.

Weighing North Carolina Pay Against Training Cost

In-state tuition at North Carolina community colleges ran from $1,944 to $4,112 for a full-time year in 2024–25. Set against a $50,590 median, a one-year diploma is a small investment.

For tuition, supplies and program costs school by school, read the companion guide to welding school cost in North Carolina. To compare North Carolina with other states, see the national welder salary table and the welder career page. For every school ranked, visit the best welding schools in North Carolina.

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