Ironworkers die on the job at a rate of roughly 27 per 100,000 full-time workers — about eight times the all-industry average — and the wage table reflects it. The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (SOC 47-2221, Structural Iron and Steel Workers, May 2025 release with 2026 adjustments) puts the national median at $31.30/hr, or $65,210 a year, the highest of the major structural trades. The state spread runs from $22.40/hr in Arkansas to $48.15/hr in Illinois — a 115% gap that maps almost perfectly onto one variable: union density. No trade's wage geography is more union-written than this one, because no trade's labor market is more union-organized. Iron Workers International density in commercial structural steel exceeds 60% in the Northeast and Midwest, the highest of any construction craft.
Ironworker wages by state is the table, and it is below. But this trade prices three distinct jobs under one SOC code — structural, rebar, ornamental — and it prices risk. Both premiums deserve honest numbers.
National Baseline: $31.30/hr Median, 74,000 Ironworkers
Structural iron and steel work is a small trade — roughly 74,000 workers nationally, a tenth the electrician workforce — which makes its wage statistics volatile and its labor shortages sharp. The 2026 distribution:
- 10th percentile: $19.60/hr — rebar crews in the non-union South
- 25th percentile: $24.10/hr — non-union structural and misc. steel
- Median: $31.30/hr ($65,210/yr)
- 75th percentile: $41.50/hr — union journeymen, mid-tier metros
- 90th percentile: $53.40/hr ($111,070/yr) — union connectors and foremen in IL/NY/NJ/HI
The median rose 4.1% from 2025's $30.05/hr — the fastest wage growth among structural trades, ahead of CPI by 1.2 points. Demand is stacked: data center structural packages, bridge rehab under the IIJA's back half, and stadium/arena cycles all compete for the same 74,000 workers. Union locals in Phoenix, Columbus, and Northern Virginia have been calling boomers (traveling members) for three straight years.
Base wage is half the story. Iron Workers union fringe packages add $16–22/hr — defined-benefit pension, annuity, health, and the training funds that produce the trade's apprentices. A $42/hr journeyman in Chicago is a $62–64/hr package. Non-union structural shops average 8–12% of wages in benefits.
Full 50-State Wage Table (SOC 47-2221, 2026)
Median hourly and annual wages, BLS OEWS methodology, sorted highest to lowest:
| Rank | State | Median Hourly | Median Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Illinois | $48.15 | $100,150 |
| 2 | New York | $47.20 | $98,180 |
| 3 | Hawaii | $46.30 | $96,300 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $45.10 | $93,810 |
| 5 | Alaska | $43.80 | $91,100 |
| 6 | California | $42.60 | $88,610 |
| 7 | Washington | $41.90 | $87,150 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | $41.20 | $85,700 |
| 9 | Minnesota | $39.40 | $81,950 |
| 10 | Oregon | $38.70 | $80,500 |
| 11 | Connecticut | $38.10 | $79,250 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | $37.20 | $77,380 |
| 13 | Rhode Island | $36.60 | $76,130 |
| 14 | Michigan | $35.80 | $74,460 |
| 15 | Ohio | $35.10 | $73,010 |
| 16 | Nevada | $34.60 | $71,970 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | $34.20 | $71,140 |
| 18 | Missouri | $33.70 | $70,100 |
| 19 | Indiana | $33.20 | $69,060 |
| 20 | Maryland | $32.80 | $68,220 |
| 21 | Colorado | $32.30 | $67,180 |
| 22 | Delaware | $32.00 | $66,560 |
| 23 | Iowa | $31.70 | $65,940 |
| 24 | Kentucky | $31.50 | $65,520 |
| 25 | Vermont | $31.35 | $65,210 |
| 26 | New Hampshire | $31.25 | $65,000 |
| 27 | Maine | $31.05 | $64,580 |
| 28 | West Virginia | $30.80 | $64,060 |
| 29 | Montana | $30.40 | $63,230 |
| 30 | North Dakota | $30.10 | $62,610 |
| 31 | Wyoming | $29.80 | $61,980 |
| 32 | Virginia | $29.40 | $61,150 |
| 33 | Kansas | $29.10 | $60,530 |
| 34 | Nebraska | $28.80 | $59,900 |
| 35 | Arizona | $28.40 | $59,070 |
| 36 | Utah | $28.10 | $58,450 |
| 37 | Louisiana | $27.80 | $57,820 |
| 38 | South Dakota | $27.40 | $56,990 |
| 39 | New Mexico | $27.10 | $56,370 |
| 40 | Idaho | $26.80 | $55,740 |
| 41 | Tennessee | $26.40 | $54,910 |
| 42 | Oklahoma | $26.00 | $54,080 |
| 43 | North Carolina | $25.60 | $53,250 |
| 44 | Texas | $25.20 | $52,420 |
| 45 | Alabama | $24.80 | $51,580 |
| 46 | Georgia | $24.40 | $50,750 |
| 47 | Florida | $24.10 | $50,130 |
| 48 | South Carolina | $23.70 | $49,300 |
| 49 | Mississippi | $23.10 | $48,050 |
| 50 | Arkansas | $22.40 | $46,590 |
| — | National Median | $31.30 | $65,210 |
The Union Density Effect: A $22/hr Line Down the Map
Top 10: Where the Book Sets the Rate
Illinois ($48.15) and New York ($47.20) lead every trade table for the same reasons, but the ironworker version is extreme. Iron Workers Local 1 (Chicago) and Locals 40/361 (New York) hold structural steel at 80%+ density in their metros, and the 2026 journeyman scale — $52.90/hr base in Chicago, $54.10/hr in Manhattan, plus $20+/hr fringe — is effectively the market rate for any building over four stories. Illinois' Prevailing Wage Act and New York Labor Law § 220 extend that scale to public work, and connectors and foremen clear $60/hr. New Jersey ($45.10), Hawaii ($46.30), and Alaska ($43.80) follow the same pattern: high density, strong state prevailing-wage law, high cost of living.
The top-10 premium survives cost-of-living adjustment, which separates ironworkers from lower-wage trades. Adjust Illinois' $100,150 by BEA regional price parities and it still behaves like $97,000 — Chicago union scale on Midwest housing costs is the best real-wage deal in American construction.
Bottom 10: The Non-Union South
Arkansas ($22.40), Mississippi ($23.10), South Carolina ($23.70), Florida ($24.10), and Georgia ($24.40) close the table. Union density in these states runs under 8%, and the market is set by non-union steel erectors and rebar subs. The work is identical — the same beam, the same 60-foot exposure — at 47% of the Chicago rate. Even after cost-of-living adjustment, a bottom-10 ironworker keeps roughly $0.58 of real purchasing power for every dollar his Illinois counterpart earns. This is the cleanest natural experiment in construction labor economics, and it runs one direction: where the Iron Workers hold density, everyone's wage rises, including non-union erectors who must bid against union labor pools. Our union vs non-union analysis covers the mechanism across trades.
Structural vs Rebar vs Ornamental: Three Trades, One SOC Code
Structural ($30–48/hr): The Raising Gang
Structural ironworkers erect the skeleton — columns, beams, decking, bolting-up, welding. This is the trade's wage ceiling. Connectors, who ride the steel and set incoming pieces, earn +$1–3/hr over journeyman scale in most union agreements and hold the trade's highest fatality exposure. Certified welders (AWS D1.1 structural) add $2–5/hr; a structural hand with a 6GR rig ticket in a data center market bills $45–55/hr non-union.
Rebar ($22–34/hr): The Volume Segment
Reinforcing ironworkers (technically SOC 47-2171, but blended in most wage conversations) place and tie rebar for foundations, decks, and highway structures. Rebar is the trade's lowest-paid segment — the skill ladder is shorter and the non-union share is far higher, especially in the South and Southwest where rebar subs run production crews at $19–26/hr. The exception is post-tensioning and heavy bridge work: PT-certified rodbusters on Davis-Bacon bridge jobs earn $34–42/hr. Every IIJA-funded bridge replacement carries a wage determination that puts rebar hands at the county's prevailing rate — check it before you take the job, because rebar is where WD underpayment shows up most.
Ornamental ($26–40/hr): Rails, Curtain Wall, Misc Steel
Ornamental ironworkers hang curtain wall, stairs, railings, and miscellaneous metals. Wages sit between rebar and structural. The segment is growing faster than either — curtain-wall install on data center and lab buildings is chronically short-handed, and glazing-adjacent ornamental crews in Northern Virginia and Phoenix have seen 5–6% annual wage growth since 2024.
The Danger Premium: What $31.30 Actually Prices
I write about safety for a living, so let me be direct about what this wage buys. BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data puts structural iron and steel workers' fatality rate at roughly 27 per 100,000 FTE — behind only logging, fishing, roofing, and aviation among civilian occupations, and the highest of any trade you will find on a commercial jobsite. Falls account for the large majority. OSHA's Subpart R (29 CFR 1926.750–761, Steel Erection) governs the work: fall protection required at 15 feet for most tasks, 30 feet or two stories for connectors, controlled decking zones limited and shrinking with every standards revision.
Do the grim arithmetic. The ironworker median carries roughly a $3–5/hr premium over comparable-skill trades at similar training length — call it $8,000/yr. Economists call this a compensating differential. I call it underpriced: $8,000 a year against an 8× fatality multiple is not a trade anyone should make silently, which is why the union fringe package — the pension that pays your family if you don't finish the career, the comp advocacy, the training fund that teaches connectors to survive — is worth more than the wage line in this trade specifically. A non-union erector offering $2/hr over scale but skipping Subpart R compliance is not paying a premium. He is transferring risk to you at a discount.
Overtime is the other quiet number. Steel erection runs on crane schedules and weather windows; 50–58 hour weeks are normal in season. At the median, an ironworker running 52-hour weeks for 30 weeks a year adds roughly $17,600 in OT earnings — check your stubs compute it on the correct base with the overtime calculator, because on prevailing-wage work the OT rate applies to the WD base rate, not the fringe.
What Contractors Should Budget
A $31.30/hr ironworker is a $46–52/hr cost after burden — and ironworker burden runs the highest in construction because workers' comp rates for steel erection run $18–35 per $100 of payroll depending on state and EMR. Run your real number through the labor burden calculator before bidding structural packages; a contractor pricing steel labor at electrician comp rates ($4–7 per $100) is 20+ points light. For union work, budget the full package: Chicago structural at $52.90 base + $20.40 fringe + statutory burden ≈ $88–92/hr all-in. For rebar-heavy IIJA work, pull the county wage determination from sam.gov first — the WD, not your historical crew rate, is your labor floor. Compare crew economics across trades with electrician wages by state and roofer wages by state — roofers share the fall-exposure profile at $10/hr less, which tells you how much union density, not danger alone, drives the ironworker number.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do ironworkers make in 2026?
The BLS median is $31.30/hr ($65,210/yr) for SOC 47-2221. State medians run $22.40 (Arkansas) to $48.15 (Illinois). Union journeymen in Chicago and New York earn $52–54/hr base plus $20+/hr in fringe benefits; non-union rebar crews in the South earn $19–26/hr.
Why do Illinois ironworkers earn double the Arkansas rate?
Union density. Iron Workers locals hold 80%+ of commercial structural steel in Chicago and New York metros, and state prevailing-wage laws extend union scale to all public work. Arkansas has under 8% density and no state prevailing-wage law, so non-union erectors set the market. The work and the risk are identical; the bargaining power is not.
Which pays more — structural, rebar, or ornamental?
Structural pays most ($30–48/hr median range; connectors and certified welders at the top), ornamental sits in the middle ($26–40/hr), rebar pays least ($22–34/hr) except for PT-certified and bridge rodbusters on prevailing-wage work ($34–42/hr).
Is ironwork the most dangerous construction trade?
Among common commercial trades, yes. The fatality rate runs roughly 27 per 100,000 FTE — about 8× the all-industry average — with falls the leading cause. OSHA Subpart R (29 CFR 1926.750–761) sets steel-erection-specific fall protection rules. The wage premium over comparable trades is roughly $3–5/hr; the union pension and training infrastructure is arguably the more valuable compensation for the risk.
How do I become a union ironworker?
Apply to an Iron Workers apprenticeship: 3–4 years, roughly 204 classroom hours a year plus on-the-job training, starting at 60–70% of journeyman scale with raises every 6 months. No tuition. Most locals require a physical agility test and a drug screen. Experienced non-union hands can often test into advanced standing — call the local's training coordinator directly.
Does Davis-Bacon cover ironworkers on bridge jobs?
Yes. Every federally funded or assisted project over $2,000 — which includes essentially all IIJA bridge work — carries a wage determination with separate structural and reinforcing ironworker rates plus fringe. If your paycheck on a federal-aid bridge is below the WD rate, you are owed back wages plus potential liquidated damages; file with the DOL Wage and Hour Division.
Your Action Item for This Week
If you work iron: find your state in the table. If you are non-union in a state above $30/hr, the local's apprenticeship coordinator can tell you in one phone call whether your hours test you into advanced standing — the union premium in your state is $8–15/hr plus a pension. If you are on a federal-aid bridge or building job, pull the wage determination for your county on sam.gov this week and check your stub against it, including the fringe line.
If you erect steel: verify your comp classification and EMR are correctly priced into every open bid using the labor burden calculator, then audit one certified payroll against the current WD before your next DOL desk review does it for you.
Sources & Data Cited
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), SOC 47-2221, May 2025 release: www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472221.htm
- BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), structural iron and steel workers fatality rates
- OSHA Steel Erection Standard, Subpart R, 29 CFR 1926.750–761
- Davis-Bacon wage determinations: sam.gov/wage-determinations
- Iron Workers International 2026 agreement scales (Locals 1, 40, 361)
- Related: Electrician Wages by State 2026 | Roofer Wages by State 2026
