North Dakota needs
welders for its data centers
North Dakota is building 2.5 GW of new data centers. Here is how much welders work that makes — and why there are not enough welders for it.
Welders for North Dakota's data centers: about 299 to spare.
Will North Dakota have enough workers?
At the busiest point of the build. Bars to the left mean a shortage (good if you are in that trade). Bars to the right mean workers to spare.
What this means for welders in North Dakota
North Dakota is building 2.5 GW of new AI data centers across 9 sites. On a data center, welders weld the steel and the pipe that hold the building and its cooling together.
Welders — could go either way. The data centers need about 381 welders, and North Dakota has about 680 free for this kind of work. Enough to mostly cover it, but it will be busy, with some overtime.
North Dakota has 9 data-center sites in the works, with 2.5 GW still to build. That keeps welders busy for years: as one job winds down, the next one is starting, so the work does not dry up after a single build.
North Dakota welders earn about $60,270 a year on average. Data-center work pays more than that, and when a trade is short, overtime can push experienced welders well over $100,000 a year, with health care and a pension through the union.
It is the same across the country: builders cannot find enough skilled workers. The U.S. needs about 140,000 more trade workers by 2030 to build all the data centers, and most builders say hiring is their hardest problem. Microsoft's president has called the shortage of electricians the biggest thing slowing data centers down.
The building work runs a few years, not forever — but North Dakota has enough lined up to keep you busy, and the skills carry over to every other big job in the state. To start, look at the North Dakota welders apprenticeship programs. That is the way in. Sources: a national survey of data-center building plans, plus U.S. jobs and pay data.
Get welders job updates for North Dakota
New North Dakota data-center sites, tips on getting hired, and pay updates for welders.
READ THE NATIONAL WELDERS SWITCH GUIDE -- $9
National welders training, pay, and licensing context. This is not a North Dakota-specific paid guide.
NORTH DAKOTA PROGRAMS
The North Dakota welders apprenticeship programs, schools, and licensing path.
The data centers behind these numbers
- River Run Energy Center – Mercer County Data Center — NextEra Energy Resources, Stanton area (1.5 GW)
- Project Fighting Pike – Williston Campus — Critical Data House, Williston (455 MW)
- Polaris Forge 2 — Applied Digital, Harwood (280 MW)
- Polaris Forge 1 – Building 3 — Applied Digital, Ellendale (150 MW)
- Polaris Forge 1 – Building 1 (ELN02) — Applied Digital, Ellendale (100 MW)
- Core Scientific Grand Forks Data Center (Grand Forks 1) — CoreWeave, Grand Forks (100 MW)