Statewide pay Government data
Welders in Kentucky earn a statewide median of $51,470 a year, 2% below the typical U.S. metro, ranking #33 of 50 states and DC. About 6,630 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near Kentucky
See all states on the welder overview.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes welder pay for 6 Kentucky metros: Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Lexington, Louisville/Jefferson County, Owensboro and Paducah.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| ElizabethtownKENTUCKY · KY | $59,900 | $66,135 | 660 |
| LexingtonKENTUCKY · KY | $53,680 | $57,789 | 480 |
| Bowling GreenKENTUCKY · KY | $53,630 | $59,471 | 400 |
| OwensboroKENTUCKY · KY | $51,700 | $58,346 | 410 |
| Louisville/Jefferson CountyKENTUCKY · KY | $50,870 | $54,655 | 1,790 |
| PaducahKENTUCKY · KY | $48,560 | $56,410 | 310 |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (metro-level). Real pay: BEA price parities, 2024. How we calculate
Pay outside the cities Government data
BLS also reports pay for Kentucky's rural (nonmetropolitan) regions.
BLS OEWS nonmetropolitan areas, May 2025.
The job (national)
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.
Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2.4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 40,300 openings a year. Typical training: moderate-term on-the-job training.
Nationally, welders have 43 injuries or illnesses serious enough to miss work per 10,000 full-time workers, 50% below the rate for all jobs (87). The most common cause is being struck by or caught in objects and equipment.
What the work is like Government data
How often welders deal with each condition, from surveys of workers in the job.
Getting started usually takes some preparation (high school plus months of training).
O*NET 31.0 Work Context and Job Zones (U.S. Department of Labor), national.
Registered apprenticeships Government data
Of welder apprentices in Kentucky who finished or left a registered program in fiscal years 2020–2024, 55% completed (U.S.: 58%), about 35 graduates a year. The typical program runs 10,000 hours, about 5 years of full-time work. Union programs had a 64% completion rate, compared with 0% for non-union programs.
U.S. Department of Labor, RAPIDS apprentice records (Completion Rate Analysis), FY2020–2024 exits.
Where to train in Kentucky Government data
18 schools in Kentucky offer precision metal working (welding, machining, sheet metal) programs below the bachelor's level, 16 of them at public colleges. Many people in this trade learn through an apprenticeship instead; a program can shorten it or get you hired as a helper.
Where published, graduates earned a median of $46,842 in their first year out.
| School | Credential | Yearly cost | Recent grads | First-year pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluegrass Community and Technical College Lexington, KY · Public | Certificate | $10,028 | 531 | $60,604 |
| Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College Bowling Green, KY · Public | Certificate | $10,100 | 527 | $69,657 |
| Maysville Community and Technical College Maysville, KY · Public | Certificate | $9,832 | 490 | $41,726 |
| Owensboro Community and Technical College Owensboro, KY · Public | Certificate | $9,964 | 383 | $38,731 |
| Jefferson Community and Technical College Louisville, KY · Public | Certificate | $10,222 | 357 | $65,286 |
| Elizabethtown Community and Technical College Elizabethtown, KY · Public | Certificate | $9,900 | 331 | $59,272 |
| Somerset Community College Somerset, KY · Public | Certificate | $10,039 | 301 | $46,666 |
| West Kentucky Community and Technical College Paducah, KY · Public | Certificate | $9,930 | 293 | $38,436 |
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (data updated October 2026). Cost is the school's average yearly cost of attendance before financial aid; earnings are the median for graduates one year after finishing, shown only where the school has enough graduates to publish. “—” means not published.
Licensing in Kentucky Official source
The main state licensing office in Kentucky is the Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. The state licenses electrical, plumbing and HVAC; general contractors are licensed locally. It can point you to the right license for welders.
Official Kentucky licensing site ↗
Requirements for welders vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 8.9% of wage and salary workers in Kentucky were union members, below the U.S. rate of about 10% (#24 of 51 states and D.C.), and 10.5% were covered by a union contract. These figures cover all jobs in the state, not only welders.
BLS Union Members, 2025 (Current Population Survey), table 5.
Cities in Kentucky
All trades in Kentucky.