Sewing Machine Operators salary

SOC 51-6031 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$36,670

per year, nationally

Middle half

$31,960–$42,830

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

104,880

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-10.8%

13,000 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.

$27,860$47,840

10th: $27,860
25th: $31,960
Median: $36,670
75th: $42,830
90th: $47,840

Getting in

Typical education to enter: No formal educational credential
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: Short-term on-the-job training

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

Where sewing machine operators 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	Nevada	$45,750	100.0	910	0.87×
2	Alaska	$43,850	102.4	40	0.19×
3	Colorado	$43,840	103.1	970	0.50×
4	Maine	$43,520	97.0	700	1.63×
5	Washington	$43,360	107.0	1,600	0.67×
6	Massachusetts	$42,910	105.8	1,540	0.63×
7	New Hampshire	$41,740	104.2	190	0.41×
8	Vermont	$40,850	98.0	220	1.09×
9	Wisconsin	$40,370	94.1	2,370	1.19×
10	Arizona	$40,210	100.7	1,420	0.65×
11	Oregon	$39,780	103.4	1,250	0.94×
12	Hawaii	$39,230	110.0	280	0.66×
13	South Dakota	$39,000	88.6	300	0.96×
14	Minnesota	$38,930	98.6	1,890	0.95×
15	Rhode Island	$38,670	102.3	270	0.80×
16	New York	$38,480	107.9	6,130	0.94×
17	Indiana	$38,440	93.3	3,400	1.58×
18	South Carolina	$38,250	93.7	2,460	1.58×
19	California	$37,940	110.7	13,240	1.08×
20	Connecticut	$37,780	103.6	480	0.42×
21	Delaware	$37,690	99.8	60	0.19×
22	Mississippi	$37,600	87.0	2,270	2.89×
23	Michigan	$37,490	96.2	3,210	1.08×
24	Idaho	$37,160	95.5	410	0.71×
25	Nebraska	$37,060	90.1	300	0.44×
26	Montana	$36,740	94.6	190	0.54×
27	Wyoming	$36,510	92.7	110	0.59×
28	Illinois	$36,220	100.0	4,060	0.99×
29	New Jersey	$36,130	108.8	2,750	0.95×
30	Iowa	$35,870	87.8	590	0.56×
31	Maryland	$35,860	105.0	1,390	0.75×
32	Virginia	$35,790	101.1	2,010	0.72×
33	Ohio	$35,760	92.8	4,100	1.10×
34	North Dakota	$35,700	89.0	110	0.37×
35	Pennsylvania	$35,640	97.6	3,390	0.83×
36	Arkansas	$35,630	86.9	860	0.98×
37	Missouri	$35,610	90.8	2,320	1.17×
38	Utah	$35,550	98.9	1,020	0.87×
39	Kansas	$35,360	90.1	650	0.67×
40	North Carolina	$35,160	94.3	8,290	2.49×
41	New Mexico	$34,840	92.2	220	0.37×
42	Georgia	$34,790	96.3	3,420	1.04×
43	Tennessee	$34,220	91.9	3,300	1.49×
44	Oklahoma	$33,340	87.8	580	0.50×
45	Florida	$33,270	103.4	6,790	1.01×
46	Texas	$31,000	97.1	6,950	0.73×
47	Alabama	$30,830	88.8	2,300	1.61×
48	Louisiana	$29,600	88.2	610	0.47×
49	Kentucky	$29,460	90.2	2,750	2.04×
50	West Virginia	$29,320	89.5	180	0.38×

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 sewing machine operators wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for sewing machine operators

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	Bend, OR	$50,830	103.6	50	0.70×
2	Glens Falls, NY	$50,000	94.9	40	1.33×
3	Appleton, WI	$48,460	92.4	110	1.32×
4	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$48,190	100.2	460	0.60×
5	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$47,220	105.6	50	0.75×
6	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$47,220	110.4	220	0.29×
7	Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC	$46,540	88.5	1,860	17.88×
8	Bangor, ME	$46,060	96.5	70	1.38×
9	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$45,210	105.8	530	0.49×
10	Portland-South Portland, ME	$45,160	101.9	240	1.22×
11	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$44,880	115.6	740	0.46×
12	Columbia, SC	$44,810	93.7	390	1.47×
13	Lewiston-Auburn, ME	$44,670	94.7	160	4.98×
14	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$44,350	109.9	40	0.65×
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$44,350	111.1	1,060	0.75×
16	Evansville, IN	$43,800	91.5	180	1.99×
17	Boulder, CO	$43,740	105.2	70	0.53×
18	Reno, NV	$43,730	101.0	410	2.19×
19	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$43,650	109.4	130	0.74×
20	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$43,500	105.1	120	0.62×
21	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$43,370	106.9	90	0.34×
22	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$42,970	108.3	850	0.47×
23	Napa, CA	$42,550	112.6	30	0.64×
24	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$42,480	100.9	80	1.01×
25	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$42,300	104.8	1,130	0.86×
26	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$42,080	106.7	190	0.26×
27	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$42,040	101.1	40	0.36×
28	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$41,980	105.4	630	0.77×
29	Tucson, AZ	$41,660	96.9	100	0.39×
30	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$41,410	108.9	660	0.31×
31	Binghamton, NY	$41,330	92.9	160	2.50×
32	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$40,910	103.3	1,200	0.75×
33	Merced, CA	$40,630	98.3	30	0.57×
34	Grand Junction, CO	$40,450	95.5	40	0.98×
35	Janesville-Beloit, WI	$40,130	93.7	80	1.61×
36	Elkhart-Goshen, IN	$40,130	90.3	470	5.44×
37	Madison, WI	$40,040	97.3	—	—
38	Fond du Lac, WI	$39,810	91.6	60	1.87×
39	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$39,800	110.5	180	0.83×
40	Bellingham, WA	$39,650	103.3	50	0.88×

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 sewing machine operators wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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