Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic salary

SOC 51-4191 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$48,750

per year, nationally

Middle half

$40,660–$58,400

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

14,000

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-12.8%

1,200 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.

$35,180$66,350

10th: $35,180
25th: $40,660
Median: $48,750
75th: $58,400
90th: $66,350

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 heat treating equipment 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	$61,990	107.0	140	0.45×
2	Oregon	$60,280	103.4	240	1.34×
3	Colorado	$58,300	103.1	100	0.40×
4	West Virginia	$56,880	89.5	70	1.06×
5	Virginia	$55,070	101.1	190	0.50×
6	Tennessee	$54,930	91.9	670	2.26×
7	New York	$52,940	107.9	280	0.32×
8	Ohio	$52,880	92.8	1,040	2.09×
9	New Hampshire	$52,250	104.2	90	1.49×
10	Oklahoma	$51,680	87.8	120	0.81×
11	Arizona	$50,660	100.7	160	0.53×
12	Michigan	$50,560	96.2	1,190	3.00×
13	California	$50,150	110.7	770	0.47×
14	Iowa	$49,760	87.8	120	0.88×
15	New Jersey	$49,640	108.8	440	1.14×
16	Massachusetts	$49,280	105.8	250	0.76×
17	Wisconsin	$49,100	94.1	470	1.78×
18	Pennsylvania	$48,800	97.6	1,520	2.78×
19	Nebraska	$48,120	90.1	50	0.51×
20	Missouri	$47,980	90.8	140	0.52×
21	Utah	$47,860	98.9	90	0.59×
22	Kansas	$47,500	90.1	50	0.39×
23	Florida	$47,370	103.4	150	0.17×
24	Kentucky	$47,090	90.2	340	1.87×
25	Alabama	$46,920	88.8	170	0.88×
26	Indiana	$46,860	93.3	990	3.45×
27	South Carolina	$46,750	93.7	290	1.38×
28	North Carolina	$46,660	94.3	320	0.72×
29	Mississippi	$46,630	87.0	80	0.72×
30	Maine	$45,590	97.0	40	0.66×
31	Illinois	$45,340	100.0	850	1.55×
32	Connecticut	$44,350	103.6	320	2.12×
33	Georgia	$44,050	96.3	250	0.56×
34	Texas	$41,690	97.1	1,450	1.14×
35	Minnesota	$41,100	98.6	90	0.33×
36	Arkansas	$37,590	86.9	200	1.68×
37	Louisiana	$35,180	88.2	—	—

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 heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for heat treating equipment 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	$67,070	89.4	170	11.57×
2	Oklahoma City, OK	$65,640	90.4	40	0.59×
3	Albany, OR	$64,210	102.1	40	9.85×
4	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$63,960	90.0	50	3.59×
5	Columbus, OH	$62,530	95.5	40	0.45×
6	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$61,990	111.1	110	0.58×
7	Worcester, MA	$61,050	102.5	30	1.00×
8	Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI	$60,190	92.5	60	11.08×
9	Springfield, MA	$60,110	96.1	60	3.15×
10	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$59,530	111.9	60	0.47×
11	Peoria, IL	$59,160	91.2	80	5.60×
12	Pittsburgh, PA	$58,890	94.7	210	2.13×
13	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$58,300	115.6	50	0.24×
14	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$58,250	105.4	190	1.73×
15	Chattanooga, TN-GA	$57,800	91.5	40	1.57×
16	York-Hanover, PA	$57,290	96.0	40	2.20×
17	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$56,380	95.4	110	1.12×
18	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$56,280	96.3	240	2.46×
19	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$55,650	108.3	110	0.45×
20	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$55,370	95.7	210	2.10×
21	Rochester, NY	$54,170	97.0	60	1.25×
22	Akron, OH	$54,120	93.4	100	3.37×
23	Reading, PA	$53,860	97.1	190	12.16×
24	St. Louis, MO-IL	$53,100	95.1	60	0.48×
25	Richmond, VA	$52,340	97.9	60	0.94×
26	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$51,430	103.3	120	0.57×
27	Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC	$51,190	93.3	40	0.98×
28	Monroe, MI	$51,020	93.5	40	9.71×
29	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$50,920	97.9	40	0.62×
30	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$50,790	100.3	650	3.80×
31	Cleveland, OH	$50,690	93.9	240	2.64×
32	Spartanburg, SC	$50,280	91.1	30	2.10×
33	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$50,010	112.6	420	0.49×
34	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$49,680	113.6	420	0.75×
35	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$49,620	114.2	40	0.14×
36	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$49,600	106.4	100	0.63×
37	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$49,470	102.6	250	0.95×
38	South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI	$49,430	92.9	40	3.02×
39	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$49,280	96.9	180	2.46×
40	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$49,100	97.3	160	1.32×

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 heat treating equipment 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.

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn the most

Best paying metro areas for heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic

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