Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic salary

SOC 51-4035 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$52,800

per year, nationally

Middle half

$45,210–$64,900

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

12,460

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-14.4%

1,100 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.

$37,840$81,030

10th: $37,840
25th: $45,210
Median: $52,800
75th: $64,900
90th: $81,030

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 milling and planing machine 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	Washington	$86,460	107.0	240	0.84×
2	Connecticut	$79,300	103.6	150	1.11×
3	Kentucky	$66,440	90.2	540	3.34×
4	Illinois	$63,360	100.0	570	1.16×
5	Massachusetts	$62,380	105.8	—	—
6	Nebraska	$59,630	90.1	70	0.86×
7	California	$59,050	110.7	1,960	1.34×
8	Wisconsin	$58,770	94.1	280	1.20×
9	Indiana	$57,720	93.3	590	2.31×
10	New York	$56,560	107.9	550	0.71×
11	Virginia	$56,410	101.1	90	0.28×
12	Maryland	$56,080	105.0	50	0.22×
13	Minnesota	$55,210	98.6	220	0.95×
14	Texas	$53,840	97.1	510	0.45×
15	Colorado	$53,780	103.1	—	—
16	Nevada	$52,800	100.0	120	0.93×
17	Iowa	$51,600	87.8	140	1.09×
18	Ohio	$51,310	92.8	610	1.38×
19	New Jersey	$50,530	108.8	190	0.55×
20	New Hampshire	$49,230	104.2	50	0.98×
21	North Carolina	$49,210	94.3	280	0.71×
22	Arizona	$48,760	100.7	100	0.39×
23	Michigan	$48,400	96.2	670	1.90×
24	South Carolina	$48,340	93.7	120	0.65×
25	Pennsylvania	$47,690	97.6	410	0.84×
26	Missouri	$47,680	90.8	350	1.49×
27	Florida	$47,220	103.4	140	0.17×
28	Utah	$46,580	98.9	100	0.71×
29	West Virginia	$45,440	89.5	120	2.21×
30	Maine	$45,210	97.0	120	2.40×
31	Arkansas	$44,440	86.9	160	1.57×
32	Tennessee	$43,710	91.9	1,170	4.47×
33	Oklahoma	$40,250	87.8	160	1.19×
34	Mississippi	$39,100	87.0	100	1.08×
35	Georgia	$38,340	96.3	120	0.30×
36	Alabama	$35,760	88.8	210	1.25×

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 milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for milling and planing machine 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	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$105,430	111.1	110	0.67×
2	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN	$66,440	93.1	90	1.64×
3	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$65,540	108.3	—	—
4	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$63,360	103.6	470	1.29×
5	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$62,530	104.8	110	0.70×
6	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$62,220	104.5	40	0.34×
7	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$61,340	103.1	130	0.39×
8	Youngstown-Warren, OH	$60,380	87.4	30	2.43×
9	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$60,140	96.9	60	0.93×
10	Springfield, MA	$59,260	96.1	—	—
11	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$59,050	111.9	230	1.89×
12	Elkhart-Goshen, IN	$59,040	90.3	190	18.27×
13	Canton-Massillon, OH	$58,590	89.4	30	2.59×
14	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$58,360	115.6	180	0.97×
15	Omaha, NE-IA	$58,290	91.9	30	0.75×
16	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$56,970	100.3	230	1.49×
17	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$56,870	98.6	140	0.53×
18	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$56,700	95.7	50	0.52×
19	Fort Wayne, IN	$55,860	92.6	40	2.30×
20	Cleveland, OH	$55,500	93.9	130	1.62×
21	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$55,340	95.4	50	0.52×
22	St. Louis, MO-IL	$55,240	95.1	100	0.90×
23	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$54,120	106.7	50	0.52×
24	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$54,090	113.6	660	1.31×
25	Kansas City, MO-KS	$53,990	92.5	110	1.24×
26	Reno, NV	$52,800	101.0	70	3.07×
27	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$51,900	112.6	190	0.25×
28	Columbus, OH	$50,860	95.5	70	0.74×
29	Worcester, MA	$49,740	102.5	50	1.90×
30	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$49,630	102.6	100	0.45×
31	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$49,580	100.1	40	0.19×
32	Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH	$49,320	92.7	50	1.59×
33	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$49,210	97.3	110	0.98×
34	Pittsburgh, PA	$48,960	94.7	100	1.12×
35	Akron, OH	$47,780	93.4	50	2.08×
36	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$47,710	106.4	140	1.00×
37	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$47,510	95.5	150	3.23×
38	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$47,330	95.8	80	1.76×
39	Tulsa, OK	$47,270	89.2	70	1.98×
40	Knoxville, TN	$46,610	92.6	—	—

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 milling and planing machine 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.

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn the most

Best paying metro areas for milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

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