How Much Do Welders Make in Virginia?
Welders in Virginia earned a median of $59,180 a year in May 2025, or $28.45 an hour, above the national median of $53,750. The lowest-paid tenth earned under $42,520 and the top tenth over $79,630. Pay runs highest in Staunton-Stuarts Draft ($64,470) and the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro ($62,670).
Virginia welders earned a median of $59,180 a year in May 2025, which works out to $28.45 an hour. That’s above the national median of $53,750, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The average (mean) was $60,410, and about 10,100 people worked as welders, cutters, solderers and brazers in the state.
Where you work changes that number. The highest median in Virginia was in the Staunton-Stuarts Draft area, and the metro with by far the most welding jobs was Hampton Roads, the shipbuilding and ship repair region around Norfolk.
The Pay Range, From New Welder to Top Earner
A median tells you the middle. Here’s the whole ladder for Virginia, next to the national figures.
| Point in the pay range | Virginia | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom 10% earn less than | $42,520 | $39,240 |
| Bottom 25% earn less than | $49,020 | $46,790 |
| Median | $59,180 | $53,750 |
| Top 25% earn more than | $65,400 | $63,010 |
| Top 10% earn more than | $79,630 | $77,530 |
| Median hourly | $28.45 | $25.84 |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Virginia beats the national figure at every step. The gap is widest in the middle of the range: a typical Virginia welder earns $28.45 an hour against $25.84 nationally.
If you’re new, expect to start near the bottom quarter. You move toward the top by adding processes (TIG and pipe especially), passing harder certification tests and picking up years on the job.
Hampton Roads: Where the Welding Jobs Are
The Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk metro employed 3,740 welders in May 2025. That’s the largest welding workforce of any Virginia metro, nearly twice as many as the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro.
Pay there is strong, too. The median was $62,670, or $30.13 an hour, second only to Staunton-Stuarts Draft. The bottom tenth in Hampton Roads earned $46,510 or more, the highest floor of any Virginia metro. That matters if you’re just starting out: even entry-level pay runs higher here.
Much of that work is shipbuilding and ship repair, and the local schools train for it:
- Tidewater Tech-Trades in Norfolk offers Combination Welding (about 33 weeks full-time) and Combination Maritime Welding (about 48 weeks). It conferred 257 welding awards in 2024–25, more than any other school in Virginia.
- Advanced Technology Institute in Virginia Beach offers a Maritime Welding Technology diploma of about 15 months and an associate degree of about 18 months, with AWS testing up to 6G pipe on site.
- Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth offers a 33-credit welding certificate and an 18-credit Welding Essentials certificate at community college tuition.
See every option near the coast in the Virginia Beach welding schools guide.
Welder Pay in Every Virginia Metro
Here’s the May 2025 median for each metro area in the BLS data, highest to lowest.
| Metro area | Median salary | Median hourly | Top 10% earn more than | Welders employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staunton-Stuarts Draft | $64,470 | $30.99 | $85,360 | 390 |
| Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk | $62,670 | $30.13 | $78,180 | 3,740 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria | $60,670 | $29.17 | $114,440 | 2,000 |
| Richmond | $57,710 | $27.74 | $83,920 | 1,260 |
| Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford | $57,650 | $27.71 | $62,820 | 250 |
| Charlottesville | $57,420 | $27.61 | $78,720 | 90 |
| Roanoke | $56,040 | $26.94 | $63,800 | 940 |
| Kingsport-Bristol | $55,690 | $26.78 | $69,130 | 450 |
| Winchester | $54,690 | $26.29 | $64,290 | 120 |
| Lynchburg | $51,970 | $24.99 | $77,780 | 610 |
| Harrisonburg | $51,870 | $24.94 | $74,220 | 110 |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Kingsport-Bristol and Winchester cross into neighboring states.
Two things stand out. The Washington metro has a middle-of-the-pack median but the highest ceiling: the top tenth there earned $114,440 or more. And in southwest Virginia, Roanoke and Blacksburg have fairly narrow ranges, with the top tenth starting at $62,820 in Blacksburg and $63,800 in Roanoke.
Pay Near Virginia’s Community Colleges
Most of Virginia’s community college welding programs sit outside the big metros. If you train close to home in these regions, here’s what the local pay looks like.
Lynchburg. The median was $51,970, but the top tenth earned $77,780 or more, a wide range for a mid-size metro. Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg conferred 101 welding awards in 2024–25 and offers a 68-credit AAS in welding.
Roanoke and the New River Valley. Roanoke’s median was $56,040 and Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford’s was $57,650. New River Community College in Dublin, between the two, trains students to AWS D1.1 and ASME Section IX codes and has the lowest in-state tuition in the state.
Richmond. The median was $57,710 and the top tenth earned $83,920 or more. Brightpoint Community College in Chester, just south of the city, offers a 30-credit welding certificate and a 19-credit career studies certificate.
Far southwest. The Kingsport-Bristol metro had a median of $55,690. Virginia Highlands Community College in nearby Abingdon offers both day and evening welding cohorts.
Welding Careers That Pay More in Virginia
Welding is also a starting point. These related jobs had higher Virginia medians in May 2025:
| Career | Virginia median | Median hourly |
|---|---|---|
| Welding supervisor | $74,150 | $35.65 |
| Ironworker | $60,260 | $28.97 |
| Welding engineer | $148,160 | $71.23 |
| Welding sales representative | $128,270 | $61.67 |
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Each career uses the closest BLS occupation, so figures cover the broader group (for example, all first-line production supervisors).
Supervising a crew is a natural next step for an experienced welder, and the Virginia median for that group was $74,150. Engineering pays the most but usually needs a four-year degree. Some paths pay less than hands-on welding: welding inspectors in the BLS inspector group earned a $49,590 median, and robotic welding technicians earned $49,160.
If you want to specialize while staying on the tools, read about pipe welder careers and structural welder careers. Certifications are usually the key to both, and the welding certification guide explains the tests.
Does a Degree Change What You Earn?
The BLS doesn’t split welder pay by credential, so there’s no separate salary for certificate holders and degree holders. What changes is the work you can compete for.
A short career studies certificate teaches one or two processes. Danville Community College’s 8-week MIG workforce course, for example, can get you into production welding quickly. A full certificate or diploma covers stick, MIG, TIG and flux-cored welding, plus blueprint reading, so you can apply for a wider range of fabrication and construction jobs.
An associate degree takes about two years. In Virginia you can earn one at Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap (67 credits), Central Virginia Community College (68 credits) or Advanced Technology Institute, which pairs maritime welding with trades leadership courses. A degree is most useful if you’re aiming for a supervisor role, where the Virginia median runs higher than for hands-on welding.
If you’re weighing a fast program against a longer one, compare the cost of each year against the metro pay in the table above. A certificate that gets you working a year sooner puts a year of wages in your pocket.
How to Reach the Higher End of Virginia Pay
You can’t pick your metro’s pay, but you can put yourself in the top half of it.
- Train where the jobs are. If you can live in Hampton Roads, you start with the highest pay floor in the state and the most openings.
- Learn pipe welding. 11 of the 13 Virginia schools in this guide teach it, including Advanced Technology Institute, Tidewater Tech-Trades and Danville Community College.
- Test for certifications during school. Schools like Tidewater Tech-Trades and Southwest Virginia Community College train in AWS Accredited Test Facilities, so you can test where you learn.
- Plan the next step. Supervisor and inspector roles open up once you have experience and credentials.
The step-by-step guide on how to become a welder in Virginia walks through training and testing in order. To compare every school, start with the best welding schools in Virginia, check the national picture on the welder salary page, and see what training costs in the Virginia welding school cost guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Do Entry-Level Welders Earn in Virginia?
The BLS doesn't report pay by experience, but the bottom tenth of Virginia welders earned $42,520 or less in May 2025, and the bottom quarter earned $49,020 or less. New welders tend to start near the bottom of the range.
Do Welders in Northern Virginia Earn More?
The median in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro was $60,670, close to the state median. The top tenth there earned $114,440 or more, the highest top-end pay of any metro in the Virginia data.
Is Welding a Good Career in Virginia?
Pay is solid for work you can train for in a year or less. The state median of $59,180 is above the national figure, and 10,100 welders were employed in Virginia in May 2025.
What Is the Average Welder Salary in Virginia?
The mean (average) annual wage for Virginia welders was $60,410 in May 2025. The median, the middle of the range, was $59,180.
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