Maintenance Workers, Machinery salary

SOC 49-9043 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$60,850

per year, nationally

Middle half

$48,920–$75,200

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

60,020

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-2.8%

4,800 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$42,000$88,550

10th: $42,000
25th: $48,920
Median: $60,850
75th: $75,200
90th: $88,550

Getting in

Typical education to enter: High school diploma or equivalent
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Long-term on-the-job training

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where maintenance workers, machinery earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Wyoming	$84,620	92.7	280	2.61×
2	New Hampshire	$77,070	104.2	130	0.48×
3	Kentucky	$76,710	90.2	2,920	3.78×
4	Nevada	$75,500	100.0	750	1.25×
5	Rhode Island	$72,040	102.3	110	0.57×
6	California	$67,840	110.7	4,130	0.59×
7	New York	$67,610	107.9	2,760	0.74×
8	Virginia	$65,500	101.1	1,420	0.90×
9	South Carolina	$64,910	93.7	960	1.08×
10	Tennessee	$64,790	91.9	800	0.63×
11	Iowa	$64,760	87.8	900	1.49×
12	Wisconsin	$64,310	94.1	420	0.37×
13	Colorado	$64,010	103.1	740	0.67×
14	Missouri	$63,720	90.8	2,180	1.92×
15	Connecticut	$63,250	103.6	410	0.63×
16	Minnesota	$63,020	98.6	730	0.64×
17	Washington	$62,970	107.0	700	0.51×
18	Louisiana	$62,640	88.2	1,410	1.89×
19	District of Columbia	$62,520	109.9	80	0.29×
20	Alaska	$61,290	102.4	40	0.32×
21	Nebraska	$61,190	90.1	650	1.64×
22	Pennsylvania	$61,080	97.6	1,260	0.54×
23	Utah	$60,850	98.9	1,180	1.76×
24	North Carolina	$60,580	94.3	4,750	2.49×
25	Alabama	$60,560	88.8	420	0.51×
26	Kansas	$60,160	90.1	1,040	1.88×
27	West Virginia	$60,020	89.5	790	2.91×
28	Michigan	$59,590	96.2	1,640	0.96×
29	Maryland	$59,570	105.0	1,870	1.76×
30	Illinois	$59,300	100.0	560	0.24×
31	Texas	$59,280	97.1	8,800	1.62×
32	Ohio	$59,280	92.8	2,330	1.09×
33	Oklahoma	$58,970	87.8	1,530	2.32×
34	New Jersey	$57,920	108.8	310	0.19×
35	Georgia	$57,730	96.3	2,900	1.54×
36	Oregon	$57,440	103.4	430	0.57×
37	Idaho	$56,250	95.5	170	0.51×
38	Arizona	$56,130	100.7	440	0.35×
39	Massachusetts	$55,000	105.8	320	0.23×
40	Mississippi	$54,380	87.0	450	1.00×
41	Arkansas	$53,250	86.9	770	1.53×
42	Maine	$52,300	97.0	490	1.98×
43	Florida	$51,900	103.4	2,830	0.74×
44	Indiana	$48,760	93.3	1,780	1.44×
45	South Dakota	$45,240	88.6	50	0.29×
46	New Mexico	$36,240	92.2	—	—

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where maintenance workers, machinery wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for maintenance workers, machinery

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$157,260	93.1	970	3.66×
2	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$91,440	90.0	320	5.14×
3	Clarksville, TN-KY	$84,500	90.9	70	1.76×
4	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$83,890	105.7	80	0.98×
5	Vallejo, CA	$83,540	108.5	70	1.34×
6	Baton Rouge, LA	$83,170	90.8	360	2.27×
7	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$81,070	100.1	60	1.14×
8	Longview-Kelso, WA	$79,890	97.5	30	2.18×
9	Syracuse, NY	$79,720	95.7	320	2.75×
10	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$79,410	95.4	940	2.22×
11	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$79,090	115.6	270	0.30×
12	Charlottesville, VA	$77,060	99.1	40	0.88×
13	St. Joseph, MO-KS	$76,530	86.4	120	5.84×
14	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$75,780	107.8	80	0.96×
15	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$75,190	101.0	140	0.95×
16	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$74,940	111.9	330	0.56×
17	Lexington-Fayette, KY	$74,610	92.9	220	1.96×
18	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$73,080	106.7	220	0.52×
19	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$72,750	113.6	1,310	0.54×
20	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$72,400	99.6	130	0.73×
21	St. Louis, MO-IL	$71,840	95.1	840	1.63×
22	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$71,530	110.4	160	0.37×
23	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$69,940	104.8	250	0.33×
24	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$68,990	112.6	1,170	0.32×
25	Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC	$67,490	93.3	170	0.99×
26	Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI	$67,130	92.5	50	1.98×
27	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$67,040	98.2	390	1.36×
28	College Station-Bryan, TX	$66,910	91.0	90	1.72×
29	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$66,880	101.8	140	0.50×
30	Morristown, TN	$66,470	86.4	40	2.01×
31	Madison, WI	$66,470	97.3	50	0.34×
32	Reno, NV	$66,320	101.0	120	1.11×
33	Monroe, LA	$66,200	83.6	60	1.74×
34	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$66,050	110.5	90	0.75×
35	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$66,000	96.9	70	0.22×
36	New Haven, CT	$65,840	104.6	70	0.65×
37	Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA	$65,760	87.1	50	1.54×
38	Spartanburg, SC	$65,740	91.1	80	1.32×
39	Evansville, IN	$65,730	91.5	80	1.46×
40	Elizabethtown, KY	$65,660	90.6	70	3.58×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where maintenance workers, machinery wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.