Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic salary

SOC 51-4062 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$58,000

per year, nationally

Middle half

$49,070–$69,960

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

1,470

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-24.4%

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.

$42,460$82,590

10th: $42,460
25th: $49,070
Median: $58,000
75th: $69,960
90th: $82,590

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 patternmakers, 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	Ohio	$97,690	92.8	70	1.27×
2	Minnesota	$74,900	98.6	60	2.19×
3	Massachusetts	$65,210	105.8	—	—
4	Iowa	$63,420	87.8	90	6.32×
5	Alabama	$62,290	88.8	110	5.41×
6	Washington	$59,800	107.0	30	0.96×
7	Indiana	$54,740	93.3	80	2.70×
8	Pennsylvania	$54,150	97.6	160	2.85×
9	Michigan	$53,780	96.2	250	5.94×
10	Wisconsin	$52,150	94.1	230	8.42×
11	Texas	$49,390	97.1	40	0.29×
12	North Carolina	$47,050	94.3	40	0.78×

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 patternmakers, metal and plastic wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for patternmakers, metal and plastic

The 5 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	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$74,900	104.8	50	2.76×
2	Birmingham, AL	$62,390	91.6	70	13.62×
3	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$54,980	100.0	40	11.73×
4	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$49,070	96.9	110	14.52×
5	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$48,790	100.3	100	5.42×

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 patternmakers, 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.