SalaryRow

Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders salary

SOC 51-6062 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median
$38,760
per year, nationally
Middle half
$34,230–$45,220
25th to 75th percentile
Employed
9,000
in the U.S.
Growth 2024–34
-11.7%
1,000 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.

$28,650$49,420
10th
$28,650
25th
$34,230
Median
$38,760
75th
$45,220
90th
$49,420

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 textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders 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.

#StateMedianCost of livingEmployedConcentrationvs. national
1Connecticut$47,160103.6500.50×
2New York$46,810107.91700.31×
3New Hampshire$45,930104.2802.13×
4Hawaii$45,760110.0
5Washington$45,380107.01400.68×
6Massachusetts$43,680105.83801.80×
7North Carolina$43,46094.38402.93×
8Indiana$41,74093.3700.40×
9South Carolina$41,74093.74803.60×
10Ohio$41,60092.83701.14×
11Minnesota$41,48098.61000.58×
12New Jersey$40,780108.81200.47×
13Rhode Island$40,000102.3301.11×
14Georgia$39,84096.31,5605.53×
15Wisconsin$39,63094.11300.77×
16California$38,870110.77500.71×
17Illinois$38,600100.02300.64×
18Oregon$38,460103.4900.77×
19Mississippi$37,60087.04005.92×
20Louisiana$37,49088.2
21Arizona$37,460100.71000.52×
22Michigan$37,28096.21000.37×
23Oklahoma$37,11087.8500.54×
24Colorado$36,870103.1300.19×
25Tennessee$36,71091.93201.67×
26Pennsylvania$36,69097.62300.65×
27Kansas$35,93090.1400.46×
28Florida$35,680103.44500.79×
29Alabama$35,00088.81601.34×
30Maryland$34,890105.0500.32×
31Virginia$34,410101.1500.22×
32Kentucky$31,04090.2500.40×
33Missouri$30,54090.81701.01×
34Texas$30,16097.16800.84×
35Iowa$30,06087.8700.73×
36Arkansas$29,14086.9400.49×
37Nevada$28,630100.0700.79×

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 textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders

The 35 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 areaMedianCost of livingEmployedConcentrationvs. national
1Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC$49,39093.32309.25×
2Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC$48,64088.527030.44×
3Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA$45,220100.15603.34×
4New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ$44,420112.61700.32×
5Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA$44,350111.11000.85×
6North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL$43,750102.4301.78×
7Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$43,680108.32701.70×
8Columbus, OH$43,68095.5
9Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN$43,30095.4
10Cleveland, OH$42,10093.9701.11×
11Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI$41,470104.8400.35×
12Knoxville, TN$40,13092.6502.23×
13Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI$39,63096.9400.79×
14Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA$39,140106.4
15Greensboro-High Point, NC$38,94092.91507.07×
16Winston-Salem, NC$38,74092.01006.07×
17Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN$38,63096.3801.27×
18Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$38,600103.62000.76×
19Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC$38,52097.31301.66×
20Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA$38,460105.4801.16×
21Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD$38,200102.6700.39×
22Providence-Warwick, RI-MA$38,110101.81002.37×
23Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$37,860113.65601.54×
24Dalton, GA$37,82089.8570152.10×
25Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ$37,460103.3800.61×
26Spartanburg, SC$37,30091.1707.58×
27Charleston-North Charleston, SC$37,210101.0301.39×
28Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL$35,500100.9500.64×
29Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL$35,390114.22401.48×
30Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX$34,650103.11900.80×
31Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX$33,63098.61500.79×
32Fond du Lac, WI$30,72091.6
33Kansas City, MO-KS$30,00092.5500.73×
34El Paso, TX$29,30089.9703.51×
35Mayaguez, PR$22,3305018.14×

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 textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

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