Best Welder programs in North Dakota, ranked by enrollment
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.
9 schools in North Dakota run programs that feed this job, graduating 228 people a year. The job pays a median of $62,000 in North Dakota across about 2,590 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in North Dakota that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
2 programs in North Dakota that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in North Dakota (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 North Dakota page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 48.0508In North Dakota → | 219 | 96.1% | 8 | $36,566 | $9,429 |
| 2 | CIP 15.0614In North Dakota → | 9 | 3.9% | 1 | $57,188 | $22,000 |
Top 9 schools in North Dakota
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 9 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lynnes Welding Training Fargo, ND Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 104 | Welding Technology/Welder | $45,833 | 98% | $22,895 | — |
| 2 | North Dakota State College of Science Wahpeton, ND Public · 1 feeder programs | 38 | Welding Technology/Welder | $51,647 | 55% | — | — |
| 3 | Williston State College Williston, ND Public · 1 feeder programs | 31 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 42% | — | — |
| 4 | Bismarck State College Bismarck, ND Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 47% | — | — |
| 5 | Dickinson State University Dickinson, ND Public · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 51% | — | 37% |
| 6 | Sitting Bull College Fort Yates, ND Public · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Welding Engineering Technology/Technician | — | 22% | — | — |
| 7 | United Tribes Technical College Bismarck, ND Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 21% | $2,819 | — |
| 8 | Turtle Mountain College Belcourt, ND Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 4 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 43% | $3,883 | — |
| 9 | Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College New Town, ND Public · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Welding Technology/Welder | — | 7% | — | — |
All 9 schools in North Dakota
Every school in North Dakota 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynnes Welding Training | Fargo | Private for-profit | 104 | 1 |
| North Dakota State College of Science | Wahpeton | Public | 38 | 1 |
| Williston State College | Williston | Public | 31 | 1 |
| Bismarck State College | Bismarck | Public | 21 | 1 |
| Dickinson State University | Dickinson | Public | 10 | 1 |
| Sitting Bull College | Fort Yates | Public | 9 | 1 |
| United Tribes Technical College | Bismarck | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 1 |
| Turtle Mountain College | Belcourt | Private not-for-profit | 4 | 1 |
| Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College | New Town | Public | 2 | 1 |
What welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers earn in North Dakota
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $53,750. North Dakota pays above the national figure.
Concentrated here: North Dakota employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in North Dakota
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 Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers page.
How to become a Welder
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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 2 majors mapped to Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers2 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 15.0614Welding Engineering Technology/Technician
- 48.0508Welding Technology/Welder
Common questions
Answers for people weighing welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers programs in North Dakota.
What degree do you need to become a Welder?+
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 219 degrees in North Dakota in 2024-25, 96.1% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Welder?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Precision Metal Working, Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 228 people a year in North Dakota.
How much do welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers earn in North Dakota?+
The median is $62,000 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 15.3% above the U.S. median of $53,750. 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 welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers growing?+
BLS projects a +2.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 45,600 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in North Dakota?+
9 institutions in North Dakota reported graduates from at least one of the 2 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 welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Wirer, Brazer, Welder, Solderer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-4121.
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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