Best Welding programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Set up, operate, or tend welding, soldering, or brazing machines or robots that weld, braze, solder, or heat treat metal products, components, or assemblies.
11 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 468 people a year. The job pays a median of $52,080 in New York across about 740 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in New York that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in New York that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in New York (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New York page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 48.0508In New York → | 468 | 100.0% | 11 | $36,566 | $9,429 |
Top 11 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 11 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apex Technical School Long Island City, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 119 | Welding Technology/Welder | $30,807 | 78% | $17,771 | — |
| 2 | SUNY College of Technology at Alfred Alfred, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 77 | Welding Technology/Welder | $42,739 | 55% | — | 76% |
| 3 | Modern Welding School Schenectady, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 69 | Welding Technology/Welder | $43,246 | 94% | $24,584 | — |
| 4 | Erie 1 BOCES West Seneca, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 66 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 96% | — | — |
| 5 | Onondaga Cortland Madison BOCES Liverpool, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 30 | Welding Technology/Welder | $39,730 | 73% | — | — |
| 6 | Mohawk Valley Community College Utica, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 28 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 38% | — | — |
| 7 | SUNY College of Technology at Delhi Delhi, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 25 | Welding Technology/Welder | $39,059 | 45% | — | 89% |
| 8 | Hudson Valley Community College Troy, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 17 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 35% | — | — |
| 9 | Niagara County Community College Sanborn, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 16 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 32% | — | — |
| 10 | Schuyler Steuben Chemung Tioga Allegany BOCES Elmira, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 11 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 75% | — | — |
| 11 | Jamestown Community College Jamestown, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 40% | — | — |
All 11 schools in New York
Every school in New York with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apex Technical School | Long Island City | Private not-for-profit | 119 | 1 |
| SUNY College of Technology at Alfred | Alfred | Public | 77 | 1 |
| Modern Welding School | Schenectady | Private for-profit | 69 | 1 |
| Erie 1 BOCES | West Seneca | Public | 66 | 1 |
| Onondaga Cortland Madison BOCES | Liverpool | Public | 30 | 1 |
| Mohawk Valley Community College | Utica | Public | 28 | 1 |
| SUNY College of Technology at Delhi | Delhi | Public | 25 | 1 |
| Hudson Valley Community College | Troy | Public | 17 | 1 |
| Niagara County Community College | Sanborn | Public | 16 | 1 |
| Schuyler Steuben Chemung Tioga Allegany BOCES | Elmira | Public | 11 | 1 |
| Jamestown Community College | Jamestown | Public | 10 | 1 |
What welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $47,920. New York pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in New York
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders page.
How to become a Welding
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in New York
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 48.0508Welding Technology/Welder
Common questions
Answers for people weighing welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become a Welding?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Welding Technology/Welder, which awarded 468 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Welding?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Precision Metal Working. Together they graduate about 468 people a year in New York.
How much do welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders earn in New York?+
The median is $52,080 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 8.7% above the U.S. median of $47,920. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders growing?+
BLS projects a -9.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 3,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
11 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do welding, soldering, and brazing machine setters, operators, and tenders work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Fabricator, Mig Welder, Spot Welder, Machine Operator among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-4122.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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