Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic salary
SOC 51-4033 · BLS OEWS May 2025
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.
- 10th
- $36,110
- 25th
- $39,390
- Median
- $46,550
- 75th
- $54,290
- 90th
- $62,600
Getting in
- Typical education to enter
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Related work experience
- None
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.
Where grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic 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 | Oregon | $57,290 | 103.4 | 1,180 | 1.40× |
| 2 | Minnesota | $51,780 | 98.6 | 1,400 | 1.10× |
| 3 | Massachusetts | $50,910 | 105.8 | 2,420 | 1.54× |
| 4 | Vermont | $50,640 | 98.0 | 300 | 2.27× |
| 5 | West Virginia | $49,950 | 89.5 | 200 | 0.68× |
| 6 | Washington | $49,300 | 107.0 | 1,870 | 1.22× |
| 7 | New York | $49,290 | 107.9 | 2,410 | 0.58× |
| 8 | Kentucky | $49,160 | 90.2 | 850 | 0.99× |
| 9 | Connecticut | $48,590 | 103.6 | 1,530 | 2.09× |
| 10 | Nebraska | $48,500 | 90.1 | 300 | 0.67× |
| 11 | South Carolina | $48,040 | 93.7 | 1,730 | 1.74× |
| 12 | North Carolina | $47,770 | 94.3 | 1,610 | 0.76× |
| 13 | North Dakota | $47,670 | 89.0 | — | — |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | $47,650 | 97.6 | 3,830 | 1.47× |
| 15 | Wisconsin | $47,330 | 94.1 | 3,570 | 2.82× |
| 16 | Indiana | $47,310 | 93.3 | 4,170 | 3.02× |
| 17 | Maine | $47,230 | 97.0 | 170 | 0.62× |
| 18 | Wyoming | $46,800 | 92.7 | 30 | 0.28× |
| 19 | New Hampshire | $46,580 | 104.2 | 600 | 2.03× |
| 20 | Iowa | $46,380 | 87.8 | 890 | 1.32× |
| 21 | Missouri | $46,270 | 90.8 | 1,210 | 0.96× |
| 22 | Illinois | $46,180 | 100.0 | 4,100 | 1.56× |
| 23 | Nevada | $46,140 | 100.0 | 170 | 0.26× |
| 24 | Colorado | $46,120 | 103.1 | 500 | 0.40× |
| 25 | Idaho | $45,980 | 95.5 | 170 | 0.47× |
| 26 | California | $45,890 | 110.7 | 7,800 | 0.99× |
| 27 | Georgia | $45,850 | 96.3 | 940 | 0.45× |
| 28 | Michigan | $45,460 | 96.2 | 4,180 | 2.20× |
| 29 | Ohio | $45,270 | 92.8 | 5,960 | 2.49× |
| 30 | Arizona | $44,990 | 100.7 | 670 | 0.48× |
| 31 | Tennessee | $44,710 | 91.9 | 1,340 | 0.95× |
| 32 | New Jersey | $44,450 | 108.8 | 860 | 0.46× |
| 33 | Delaware | $44,390 | 99.8 | 50 | 0.25× |
| 34 | Utah | $44,320 | 98.9 | 400 | 0.54× |
| 35 | Rhode Island | $43,650 | 102.3 | 140 | 0.65× |
| 36 | Maryland | $43,530 | 105.0 | 160 | 0.14× |
| 37 | Virginia | $43,170 | 101.1 | 620 | 0.35× |
| 38 | Kansas | $42,710 | 90.1 | 1,010 | 1.64× |
| 39 | Mississippi | $42,660 | 87.0 | 430 | 0.86× |
| 40 | Texas | $42,250 | 97.1 | 2,960 | 0.49× |
| 41 | Montana | $41,740 | 94.6 | 160 | 0.71× |
| 42 | Florida | $40,310 | 103.4 | 1,020 | 0.24× |
| 43 | Arkansas | $39,590 | 86.9 | 340 | 0.61× |
| 44 | South Dakota | $39,060 | 88.6 | 130 | 0.66× |
| 45 | Louisiana | $38,650 | 88.2 | 160 | 0.19× |
| 46 | Oklahoma | $38,570 | 87.8 | 870 | 1.18× |
| 47 | Alabama | $38,170 | 88.8 | 1,500 | 1.65× |
| 48 | New Mexico | $38,020 | 92.2 | 30 | 0.09× |
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 grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.
Best paying metro areas for grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic
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 | Canton-Massillon, OH | $67,210 | 89.4 | 350 | 4.98× |
| 2 | Bend, OR | $60,180 | 103.6 | 40 | 0.94× |
| 3 | Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI | $59,750 | 92.5 | 460 | 16.96× |
| 4 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | $58,680 | 105.4 | 930 | 1.78× |
| 5 | Utica-Rome, NY | $57,420 | 92.7 | 130 | 2.61× |
| 6 | St. Cloud, MN | $57,110 | 87.6 | 50 | 1.09× |
| 7 | Sandusky, OH | $56,670 | 89.3 | 120 | 5.38× |
| 8 | Rochester, MN | $55,990 | 90.8 | 30 | 0.65× |
| 9 | Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH | $55,590 | 88.4 | 70 | 1.22× |
| 10 | Spartanburg, SC | $55,080 | 91.1 | 190 | 2.62× |
| 11 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $53,930 | 111.1 | 1,050 | 1.16× |
| 12 | Longview-Kelso, WA | $53,620 | 97.5 | 50 | 2.88× |
| 13 | Reading, PA | $53,090 | 97.1 | 350 | 4.64× |
| 14 | Tyler, TX | $52,880 | 92.2 | 50 | 1.01× |
| 15 | Springfield, MA | $52,660 | 96.1 | 350 | 4.06× |
| 16 | Sheboygan, WI | $52,310 | 94.0 | 200 | 7.65× |
| 17 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $51,990 | 104.8 | 1,000 | 1.19× |
| 18 | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | $51,930 | 101.0 | 180 | 1.04× |
| 19 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | $51,070 | 108.3 | 1,630 | 1.40× |
| 20 | Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | $51,000 | 97.3 | 700 | 1.19× |
| 21 | Saginaw, MI | $50,880 | 90.9 | 30 | 0.99× |
| 22 | Albany, OR | $50,840 | 102.1 | 180 | 8.83× |
| 23 | Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY | $50,760 | 109.4 | 70 | 0.62× |
| 24 | Janesville-Beloit, WI | $50,650 | 93.7 | 50 | 1.81× |
| 25 | Asheville, NC | $50,400 | 96.5 | 90 | 1.18× |
| 26 | Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA | $50,300 | 102.4 | 40 | 1.61× |
| 27 | Burlington-South Burlington, VT | $50,280 | 100.9 | 70 | 1.42× |
| 28 | Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT | $50,130 | 102.7 | 700 | 2.71× |
| 29 | Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT | $49,680 | 106.9 | 150 | 0.83× |
| 30 | Portland-South Portland, ME | $49,640 | 101.9 | 80 | 0.67× |
| 31 | Appleton, WI | $49,500 | 92.4 | 100 | 1.94× |
| 32 | Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA | $49,430 | 87.1 | 100 | 2.78× |
| 33 | Peoria, IL | $49,300 | 91.2 | 260 | 3.67× |
| 34 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $49,230 | 110.4 | 830 | 1.69× |
| 35 | Eau Claire, WI | $49,010 | 92.8 | 120 | 3.13× |
| 36 | Richmond, VA | $48,960 | 97.9 | 100 | 0.36× |
| 37 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $48,690 | 112.6 | 1,180 | 0.29× |
| 38 | Pueblo, CO | $48,640 | 91.8 | 50 | 1.71× |
| 39 | Greensboro-High Point, NC | $48,630 | 92.9 | 280 | 1.79× |
| 40 | Dubuque, IA | $48,620 | 87.3 | 70 | 2.94× |
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 grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.
Similar occupations
Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers$53,750
- Machinists$58,750
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$46,330
- Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$44,350
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$47,180
- Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$47,720
- Tool and Die Makers$64,050
- Plating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$43,960