Salary guide

Pay by target metro

Manufacturing Headhunters uses the published BLS OEWS figures below. They describe the mapped occupation and area, not an individual offer.

This is what we do all day: recruit manufacturing professionals.

Pick a metro to see every role BLS publishes there, ranked by median.

What should you know about all metropolitan areas?

Browse by state. State pages are listed separately.

AK (2)

AL (12)

AR (5)

AZ (7)

CA (25)

CO (7)

CT (5)

DC (1)

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

DE (1)

Dover, DE

FL (22)

GA (14)

HI (2)

IA (8)

ID (6)

IL (8)

IN (12)

KS (4)

KY (6)

LA (10)

MA (6)

MD (4)

ME (3)

MI (15)

MN (5)

MO (8)

MS (3)

MT (5)

NC (15)

ND (4)

NE (3)

NH (1)

Manchester-Nashua, NH

NJ (3)

NM (4)

NV (3)

NY (13)

OH (12)

OK (4)

OR (8)

PA (16)

PR (6)

RI (1)

Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

SC (8)

SD (2)

TN (10)

TX (26)

UT (5)

VA (9)

VT (1)

Burlington-South Burlington, VT

WA (11)

WI (13)

WV (7)

WY (2)

Which geographic pay view should you open?

Manufacturing Headhunters organizes this directory around the areas BLS actually publishes. Select the labor market that contains the worksite, not whichever city name looks best in an advertisement. A metropolitan estimate can include several communities and cross a state boundary. Its wage table describes that published area, not an individual industrial park or a particular commute.

A buyer hiring near a metro boundary should inspect the area title before comparing figures. The nearest recognizable city may not be the statistical area containing the plant. Nonmetropolitan listings are useful for sites outside those metro definitions. They are not substitutes for an unpublished town-level survey, and this directory does not create town estimates from county wages.

Each geographic hub gathers manufacturing role mappings with released medians. Several titles can resolve to one occupation and therefore show identical values. That is an honest limit of the source. It does not establish that a setup machinist, programmer and production operator should receive interchangeable offers. Check duties before interpreting the ranked rows as a hiring ladder.

Use employment beside pay to understand the scale of the reported occupation. Employment does not count available applicants, and location quotient describes occupational concentration rather than the willingness of employed people to move. A dense cluster may give a search more relevant backgrounds to approach without making those workers easier to recruit.

Start a local search brief with the plant address, shift coverage and whether relocation is acceptable. Then open the relevant role detail for its percentile table and mapping caveat. If two markets are part of your search, use the comparison tool rather than treating the higher median as proof that every candidate there costs more. Different plant duties can sit behind either estimate.

Does a metro listing mean you recruit only inside that city?

No: The directory supplies geographic wage context; it does not restrict a search boundary. We can discuss local, relocation and traveling backgrounds while keeping the pay evidence tied to the destination worksite.

states · compare · cnc machinist · methodology

How should you read metro directory?

S. has a published annual median of $105,770 for 2025-05. This is an occupation estimate across employers, not a quoted starting rate for your opening. Read the occupation name with the amount. A narrower plant title does not turn a broader BLS occupation into a separately measured job.

metro directory: Director of Manufacturing, mapped to General and Operations Managers (11-1021), in U.S. has a published annual median of $105,770 for 2025-05. This is an occupation estimate across employers, not a quoted starting rate for your opening. Read the occupation name with the amount. A narrower plant title does not turn a broader BLS occupation into a separately measured job.

For the same metro directory: Director of Manufacturing, mapped to General and Operations Managers (11-1021), in U.S. row, the published lower quartile is $72,320 and the upper quartile is $167,280. These are wage distribution points, not junior and senior job grades. A person’s equipment knowledge, shift requirements and actual duties still need a separate discussion. A missing percentile stays missing rather than being filled from another occupation.

The metro directory: Director of Manufacturing, mapped to General and Operations Managers (11-1021), in U.S. employment estimate is 3,503,020. Employment describes people already working in the measured occupation and area. It does not count available applicants, people willing to move or candidates interested in your plant. Keep that distinction when using this metro directory to plan a search or discuss an offer with a hiring manager.

metro directory: Sanitation Lead, mapped to Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners (37-2011), in U.S. has a published annual median of $36,840 for 2025-05. This is an occupation estimate across employers, not a quoted starting rate for your opening. Read the occupation name with the amount. A narrower plant title does not turn a broader BLS occupation into a separately measured job.

For the same metro directory: Sanitation Lead, mapped to Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners (37-2011), in U.S. row, the published lower quartile is $32,240 and the upper quartile is $44,060. These are wage distribution points, not junior and senior job grades. A person’s equipment knowledge, shift requirements and actual duties still need a separate discussion. A missing percentile stays missing rather than being filled from another occupation.

The metro directory: Sanitation Lead, mapped to Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners (37-2011), in U.S. employment estimate is 2,209,760. Employment describes people already working in the measured occupation and area. It does not count available applicants, people willing to move or candidates interested in your plant. Keep that distinction when using this metro directory to plan a search or discuss an offer with a hiring manager.

metro directory: Firmware / Embedded Engineer, mapped to Software Developers (15-1252), in U.S. has a published annual median of $135,980 for 2025-05. This is an occupation estimate across employers, not a quoted starting rate for your opening. Read the occupation name with the amount. A narrower plant title does not turn a broader BLS occupation into a separately measured job.

For the same metro directory: Firmware / Embedded Engineer, mapped to Software Developers (15-1252), in U.S. row, the published lower quartile is $105,210 and the upper quartile is $171,980. These are wage distribution points, not junior and senior job grades. A person’s equipment knowledge, shift requirements and actual duties still need a separate discussion. A missing percentile stays missing rather than being filled from another occupation.

The metro directory: Firmware / Embedded Engineer, mapped to Software Developers (15-1252), in U.S. employment estimate is 1,687,890. Employment describes people already working in the measured occupation and area. It does not count available applicants, people willing to move or candidates interested in your plant. Keep that distinction when using this metro directory to plan a search or discuss an offer with a hiring manager.

Which questions matter for metro directory?

Does metro directory give an exact offer for my plant?

What does the wage band in metro directory describe?

Does the employment figure in metro directory measure available candidates?

Director of Manufacturing source figures · Sanitation Lead source figures · Firmware / Embedded Engineer source figures · Methodology