High paying production jobs in Paducah, KY-IL with no experience

The best paid production occupations in Paducah, KY-IL that require neither a degree nor prior experience in a related job. This is the narrowest cut on the site, so it is also the shortest list: where a field has only two or three such occupations, there is no page at all rather than a page pretending otherwise.

Cost of living: prices in Paducah, KY-IL run 13.9% below the national average (2024), so a Paducah, KY-IL salary is worth about 1.16× its face value in national terms. That scales every wage here by the same factor — it changes what the numbers mean, not their order.

Local wage estimates are suppressed more often than state ones — BLS withholds any figure too few local employers report — so an occupation missing here simply has no published local estimate.

Wages: BLS OEWS, May 2025 · Cost of living: BEA regional price parities, 2024

Find production jobs in Paducah, KY-IL

OccupationMedian, Paducah, KY-IL · Employed

1Machinists$60,300
High school diploma or equivalent
$38,250 – $98,890100
2Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$57,350
High school diploma or equivalent
$48,620 – $73,59040
3Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators$52,160
High school diploma or equivalent
$34,440 – $76,14070
4Printing Press Operators$48,890
High school diploma or equivalent
$31,150 – $58,42040
5Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers$48,560
High school diploma or equivalent
$39,300 – $66,580310
6Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders$47,580
High school diploma or equivalent
$35,110 – $69,93050
7Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers$45,850
High school diploma or equivalent
$33,330 – $75,840170
8Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders$44,220
High school diploma or equivalent
$43,360 – $81,910190
9Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$41,470
High school diploma or equivalent
$30,070 – $56,88050
10Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders$38,180
High school diploma or equivalent
$35,140 – $57,23070
11Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$36,890
High school diploma or equivalent
$29,620 – $51,290150
12Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers$30,750
No formal educational credential
$26,200 – $36,20080

Bars run from the 10th to the 90th percentile; the middle half is shaded darker, and the tick is the median.

#	Occupation	MedianPaducah, KY-IL	10th–90th percentilemiddle half shaded darker	Employed
1	MachinistsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$60,300	$38,250 – $98,890	100
2	Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and TendersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$57,350	$48,620 – $73,590	40
3	Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System OperatorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$52,160	$34,440 – $76,140	70
4	Printing Press OperatorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$48,890	$31,150 – $58,420	40
5	Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and BrazersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$48,560	$39,300 – $66,580	310
6	Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and TendersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$47,580	$35,110 – $69,930	50
7	Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and WeighersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$45,850	$33,330 – $75,840	170
8	Chemical Equipment Operators and TendersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$44,220	$43,360 – $81,910	190
9	Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and PlasticHigh school diploma or equivalent	$41,470	$30,070 – $56,880	50
10	Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and TendersHigh school diploma or equivalent	$38,180	$35,140 – $57,230	70
11	Miscellaneous Assemblers and FabricatorsHigh school diploma or equivalent	$36,890	$29,620 – $51,290	150
12	Laundry and Dry-Cleaning WorkersNo formal educational credential	$30,750	$26,200 – $36,200	80

Ranked among the occupations common enough to employ roughly one in every three thousand workers in Paducah, KY-IL. The rarer ones are real jobs — but a 1,190-person occupation at the top of a list answers a different question than the one most readers are asking.

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The same fields, narrowed to what you can enter without one. Fields missing here have too few such occupations in Paducah, KY-IL to rank honestly.

High paying production jobs in Paducah, KY-IL with no experience

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