Statewide pay Government data
Welders in New Jersey earn a statewide median of $59,440 a year, 14% above the typical U.S. metro, ranking #18 of 50 states and DC. About 3,730 people work in the trade statewide.
Statewide pay range
States ranked near New Jersey
See all states on the welders nationwide.
Pay by city Government data
BLS publishes welder pay for 3 New Jersey metros: Atlantic City, Trenton and Vineland.
| Metro | Median pay | Real pay | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic CityNEW JERSEY · NJ | $60,880 | $61,584 | 90 |
| TrentonNEW JERSEY · NJ | $54,640 | $52,956 | 180 |
| VinelandNEW JERSEY · NJ | $53,000 | $55,227 | 70 |
Pay: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (metro-level). Real pay: BEA price parities, 2024. How we calculate
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.
Serious injuries & deaths reported to OSHA Government data
From 2015 to 2024, metal fabrication plants in New Jersey filed 60 severe injury reports (a hospital stay, amputation or loss of an eye), 25 of them involving an amputation. The most common cause was contact with objects and equipment (78% of reports). These cover everyone at those employers, not only welders. OSHA also opened 3 fatality investigations at metal fabrication plants in New Jersey over the same years (federal and state programs).
OSHA Severe Injury Reports, January 2015–December 2024 (states under federal OSHA only).
Fatality investigations: OSHA Fatality Inspection Data, events 2015–2024, all states.
Where to train in New Jersey Government data
10 schools in New Jersey offer precision metal working (welding, machining, sheet metal) programs below the bachelor's level, 6 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 $44,036 in their first year out.
| School | Credential | Yearly cost | Recent grads | First-year pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universal Technical Institute-Bloomfield Bloomfield, NJ · Private for-profit | Certificate | $33,491 | 121 | $43,903 |
| Lincoln Technical Institute-South Plainfield South Plainfield, NJ · Private for-profit | Certificate | $41,348 | 120 | $44,170 |
| Lincoln Technical Institute-Mahwah Mahwah, NJ · Private for-profit | Certificate | $43,424 | 81 | $44,170 |
| Burlington County Institute of Technology-Adult Education Westampton, NJ · Public | Certificate | $19,240 | 21 | — |
| Hohokus School of Trade and Technical Sciences Paterson, NJ · Private for-profit | Certificate | $31,115 | 20 | $38,562 |
| Sussex County Community College Newton, NJ · Public | Certificate | $14,382 | 3 | — |
| Ocean County Vocational-Technical School Toms River, NJ · Public | Certificate | $17,513 | 1 | — |
| Bergen Community College Paramus, NJ · Public | Certificate | $17,318 | 0 | — |
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 New Jersey Official source
The main state licensing office in New Jersey is the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. It can point you to the right license for welders.
Official New Jersey licensing site ↗
Requirements for welders vary by state and sometimes by city; always confirm with the official agency.
Union membership
In 2025, 14.7% of wage and salary workers in New Jersey were union members, above the U.S. rate of about 10% (#9 of 51 states and D.C.), and 16.1% 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 New Jersey
All trades in New Jersey.