Houston City College Welding and Machining (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Precision Metal Working
- Public college
- Houston, TX
- About 89 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Houston City College welding and machining graduates earn less than graduates of most welding and machining programs nationally, $27,696 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $10,022 in federal loans, more than at 77% of welding and machining programs in the country. Several Texas programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Texas and national columns are the medians across all welding and machining certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Houston City College graduates earn less than the national figure and about $3,311 less than the Texas median. Several Texas programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Texas welding and machining program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Texas medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 41% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $106 a month, or 4.6% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
97% of graduates (58 of 60) were working in Texas one year after graduating. Prices in the Houston area are about 1% below the national average, so a $27,696 salary here buys what about $28,081 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to welding and machining, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
$53,340Median pay in Texas. 52,000 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 40,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Machinists
$59,180Median pay in Texas. 21,700 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 26,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
$42,720Median pay in Texas. 13,290 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
$48,480Median pay in Texas. 13,190 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
About Houston City College
Welding and Machining ranks 8th of 10 certificate programs at Houston City College by first-year earnings. The top three are Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($64,648), Criminal Justice ($56,454), and Fire Science ($39,283).
Other welding and machining certificate programs near Houston
Common questions
The median graduate earns $27,696 one year after graduating and $39,000 five years after. The median across welding and machining certificate programs in Texas is $30,396.
The median federal loan balance is $10,022, which ranks 7th lowest of 11 welding and machining certificate programs in Texas. That works out to about $106 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 36% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 22%. Compare the cost with other Texas programs before deciding.
Most do. 97% (58 of 60) were working in Texas one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Texas comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the welding and machining program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024