What Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers earn in Orange County, CA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $56,160: the median annual pay for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Orange County, CA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $27.00 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $60,120, which is 7.1% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,850 people working in this occupation across the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Orange County, CA has roughly 3,165,820 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $44,530 a year ($21.41 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $79,870 or more ($38.40 an hour). That is a gap of $35,340 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $47,910 at the 25th percentile and $64,800 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.8 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $27.00 an hour or $56,160 a year at the median for Orange County, CA. Before any deductions, that is $4,680 a month, $2,160 every two weeks and $1,080 each week. After taxes the same job pays $22.01 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers this way: "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."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions"; "Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits"; "Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications"; "Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment".
Job outlook for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 437,700 jobs in 2025 to 448,100 in 2035, a change of +2.4%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 40,300 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $53,750 for this occupation; the Orange County, CA median of $56,160 is 4.5% above it.
How pay in Orange County, CA compares
Compared with the California average
Pay for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Orange County, CA is in line with the statewide figure: $56,160 locally against an employment-weighted California average of $56,629, a difference of only $469 (0.8%). Within California, Orange County, CA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers is $54,352 across the contiguous United States. At $56,160, Orange County, CA pays $1,808 more, which is 3.3% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Orange County, CA
Among the 633 occupations with published wages in Orange County, CA, Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers ranks number 412 by median pay, ahead of about 35% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Chief Executives at $234,290 a year, which is $178,130 more than the median for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers earning the Orange County, CA median of $56,160, they add up to $10,373. The result is $45,787 of take-home pay a year ($3,816 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $40,410. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $4,611, an effective 8.2% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,482 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $814. FICA totals $4,296, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in California
California income tax on this salary is $1,466 a year, or 2.6% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 32% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $122 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Orange County, CA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Orange County, CA show an average adjusted gross income of $120,090 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.7% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.4%, compared with the 8.2% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Orange County, CA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Orange County, CA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $45,787 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Orange County, CA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,610 a month ($31,320 a year), and at $3,057 for two bedrooms. For Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers, a one-bedroom absorbs 68.4% of take-home pay and 55.8% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 6.1% of gross pay for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Orange County, CA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using California residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $3,378 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $751, for $4,129 in total. Gasoline in California averages $4.42 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $2,047.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $40,931 a year in Orange County, CA. Subtract that from $45,787 of take-home pay and $4,856 remains, which is $405 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 8.6% of gross pay, a thin cushion that one unexpected expense could erase.
Local housing and commute data for Orange County, CA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Orange County, CA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Orange County, CA, set beside the California and national medians.
Property taxes in Orange County, CA
Homeowners in Orange County, CA pay a median of $6,330 a year in real estate taxes, 24% above the California median of $5,124 and 103% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $962,600, the median tax bill is 0.66% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers median of $56,160, a tax bill of that size would equal 11.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Orange County, CA
Renters in Orange County, CA pay a median gross rent of $2,434 a month in the Census survey, 20% above the California median of $2,036. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,610 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $962,600, 31% above the California median of $734,700. Median household income is $116,289, 17% above the California median of $99,122, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 26.9% of that income.
Commuting in Orange County, CA
Workers in Orange County, CA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.7 minutes each way, 7% below the California average of 28.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.5 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 18.5% of workers in Orange County, CA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers afford to live in Orange County, CA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $56,160 that ceiling is $1,404 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,610 is $1,206 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $50.19 an hour; the median for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers is $27.00, which is 46% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $22.01 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 27.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $3,057 a month means $1,529 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $12,978 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $17,834.
How fast you can save
At $405 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 25 months (2.1 years). Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 50 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers pay in Orange County, CA
How much do Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers make per hour in Orange County, CA?
The median is $27.00 per hour, based on $56,160 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $21.41 at the 10th percentile to $38.40 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers take home after taxes in Orange County, CA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $56,160 becomes $45,787 a year. That is $3,816 a month, $1,761 every two weeks or $881 a week.
How much tax do Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers pay in Orange County, CA?
Total taxes are $10,373 a year, an effective rate of 18.5%: $4,611 federal income tax, $4,296 FICA and $1,466 California income tax.
Do Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers earn more in Orange County, CA than elsewhere in California?
It is about the same. The local median of $56,160 is within 0.8% of the California average of $56,629.
Can Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Orange County, CA?
A one-bedroom costs $2,610 a month against take-home pay of $3,816, which is 68.4% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,404 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers in Orange County, CA?
About $405 a month ($4,856 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $40,931 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Orange County, CA at the 30% guideline?
$50.19 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $31,320 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers is $27.00.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the California rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.