Side-by-side distribution
Architect
$175,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 26.7%
- Live roles
- 10,538
Welder
$26.00/hr
per hour · USD
- Disclosing
- 41.1%
- Live roles
- 769
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Technical Architect, Product Management (AWS/Azure)
3P Systems Architect
Director, Solution Architect, AI-Native Engineering
Fabric SOC Architect
Interconnect and Compute Architect
Performance Modeling Architect
Performance Architect, CPU Cluster
Datacenter Liquid Cooling Architect
Field Executive Architect
Lead Architect, Top Strategic Accounts
Highest-paying jobs
Supervisor, Production (Orbital Tube Welder)
Senior Welder and Fabrication Technician
Dual Ticket Machinist - Apprentice Welder - Field
Orbital Tube Welder
Welder
Pipefitter Welder - Colorado Refinery
Welder V
Welder
Welder
Journey-Level Welder
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,450 | 101 |
Accenture
|
$180,350 | 86 |
Databricks
|
$213,750 | 74 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$169,700 | 56 |
|
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
|
$244,500 | 52 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$163,700 | 49 |
|
GDIT
|
$195,000 | 44 |
McKesson
|
$142,450 | 42 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Valmont Industries
|
$54,746 | 22 |
Oshkosh Corporation
|
$52,125 | 21 |
The Toro Company
|
$50,648 | 16 |
|
SpaceX
|
$52,000 | 15 |
Chamberlain Group
|
$50,024 | 11 |
Caterpillar
|
$59,810 | 10 |
Terex
|
$49,400 | 10 |
| JC Johnson Controls | $64,459 | 9 |
Architect salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $202,000 | 237 |
| Seattle | $189,685 | 134 |
| New York | $187,500 | 378 |
| Austin | $186,200 | 158 |
| Los Angeles | $180,350 | 121 |
| Chicago | $180,350 | 221 |
| Boston | $180,350 | 183 |
| Denver | $180,350 | 140 |
| Atlanta | $180,350 | 156 |
| London | $180,048 | 31 |
Architect vs Welder: which pays more?
The median for Architect is $175,000 per year (typically $142,400–$206,500), versus $26.00/hr for Welder ($24.00/hr–$29.98/hr). That puts Architect about 224% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Architect and Welder are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.