Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers salary

SOC 51-9061 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$48,570

per year, nationally

Middle half

$39,890–$61,440

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

597,370

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

0.0%

69,900 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.

$35,510$77,860

10th: $35,510
25th: $39,890
Median: $48,570
75th: $61,440
90th: $77,860

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 inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers 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	Alaska	$78,150	102.4	300	0.24×
2	Washington	$64,420	107.0	12,010	0.88×
3	Maryland	$61,790	105.0	4,600	0.43×
4	Hawaii	$59,740	110.0	650	0.27×
5	District of Columbia	$59,730	109.9	70	0.03×
6	Colorado	$58,350	103.1	5,220	0.47×
7	Montana	$58,070	94.6	580	0.29×
8	Wyoming	$57,900	92.7	990	0.92×
9	Delaware	$57,190	99.8	1,020	0.55×
10	Minnesota	$57,170	98.6	9,710	0.86×
11	Connecticut	$57,090	103.6	7,460	1.15×
12	Rhode Island	$54,940	102.3	1,790	0.93×
13	New Hampshire	$54,800	104.2	3,050	1.16×
14	Missouri	$54,420	90.8	12,480	1.11×
15	California	$54,300	110.7	61,130	0.87×
16	Oregon	$54,120	103.4	5,690	0.75×
17	Kansas	$53,680	90.1	9,300	1.68×
18	Maine	$53,570	97.0	1,800	0.73×
19	Massachusetts	$52,270	105.8	10,650	0.76×
20	Arizona	$52,100	100.7	11,120	0.89×
21	Nebraska	$51,270	90.1	3,350	0.85×
22	North Dakota	$50,820	89.0	1,800	1.09×
23	Iowa	$50,740	87.8	7,230	1.21×
24	New York	$49,990	107.9	19,790	0.53×
25	Oklahoma	$49,630	87.8	7,430	1.13×
26	Wisconsin	$49,610	94.1	17,670	1.56×
27	Virginia	$49,590	101.1	9,830	0.62×
28	New Mexico	$49,500	92.2	1,550	0.46×
29	Louisiana	$49,490	88.2	8,110	1.09×
30	Nevada	$49,280	100.0	4,040	0.68×
31	New Jersey	$49,140	108.8	12,280	0.75×
32	Utah	$48,910	98.9	6,630	0.99×
33	Pennsylvania	$48,320	97.6	25,870	1.11×
34	Illinois	$47,920	100.0	31,700	1.35×
35	Indiana	$47,900	93.3	24,790	2.02×
36	Florida	$47,540	103.4	22,630	0.59×
37	Ohio	$47,360	92.8	32,060	1.50×
38	South Dakota	$47,240	88.6	1,090	0.62×
39	West Virginia	$47,010	89.5	2,720	1.01×
40	South Carolina	$46,890	93.7	13,360	1.51×
41	North Carolina	$46,430	94.3	19,700	1.04×
42	Kentucky	$46,280	90.2	12,880	1.68×
43	Vermont	$46,210	98.0	900	0.77×
44	Texas	$46,210	97.1	56,390	1.04×
45	Georgia	$46,130	96.3	19,980	1.06×
46	Tennessee	$45,760	91.9	17,140	1.36×
47	Idaho	$45,130	95.5	2,900	0.88×
48	Arkansas	$44,570	86.9	5,880	1.17×
49	Michigan	$44,490	96.2	27,980	1.65×
50	Mississippi	$40,670	87.0	6,970	1.56×
51	Alabama	$40,010	88.8	13,120	1.62×

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 inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

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	Lexington Park, MD	$92,000	100.8	100	0.37×
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$76,800	111.1	8,190	1.02×
3	Savannah, GA	$72,800	95.2	1,110	1.46×
4	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$71,950	105.6	200	0.55×
5	Anchorage, AK	$71,470	105.4	80	0.12×
6	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$68,060	102.4	180	0.87×
7	Flagstaff, AZ	$65,840	100.3	270	1.05×
8	Bismarck, ND	$63,910	91.0	90	0.34×
9	Lake Charles, LA	$63,570	85.9	490	1.26×
10	Gulfport-Biloxi, MS	$63,520	90.0	600	0.99×
11	Wichita, KS	$63,030	88.9	3,590	3.03×
12	Kansas City, MO-KS	$63,000	92.5	5,210	1.24×
13	Parkersburg-Vienna, WV	$62,630	87.1	120	0.89×
14	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$62,480	101.6	170	0.88×
15	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$62,470	99.6	1,410	0.81×
16	Albany, OR	$62,460	102.1	400	2.23×
17	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$62,340	115.6	6,860	0.75×
18	Bozeman, MT	$62,200	102.5	70	0.24×
19	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$61,820	108.9	2,770	0.23×
20	Ames, IA	$61,820	88.8	240	1.11×
21	Urban Honolulu, HI	$61,630	111.0	520	0.30×
22	Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH	$61,230	89.0	210	1.49×
23	Portland-South Portland, ME	$60,860	101.9	1,020	0.92×
24	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$60,750	104.5	2,140	0.41×
25	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$60,610	110.4	5,080	1.17×
26	Boulder, CO	$60,400	105.2	790	1.07×
27	Bloomington, IN	$60,360	95.1	640	2.27×
28	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$60,360	92.6	1,520	0.89×
29	Helena, MT	$60,290	95.7	50	0.30×
30	Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL	$60,190	98.3	110	0.48×
31	Grand Forks, ND-MN	$60,180	86.7	170	0.85×
32	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$60,040	102.7	3,110	1.35×
33	Duluth, MN-WI	$59,920	88.8	260	0.54×
34	Great Falls, MT	$59,900	96.8	40	0.25×
35	Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA	$59,870	85.1	510	1.61×
36	Rochester, MN	$59,850	90.8	150	0.33×
37	Barnstable Town, MA	$59,730	98.4	70	0.18×
38	Baton Rouge, LA	$59,720	90.8	1,580	1.00×
39	Billings, MT	$59,680	93.5	120	0.32×
40	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$59,660	109.4	50	0.17×

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 inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers earn the most

Best paying metro areas for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

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