Machinists Salary - BLS OEWS Wage Benchmarks
SOC 51-4041 · National · May 2025 OEWS Data
The national median salary for Machinists is $58,739 per year ($28.24/hr) according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025. The middle 50% of earners make between $47,570 and $67,704 annually. Top earners at the 90th percentile reach $80,018 per year. There are approximately 287,050 machinists employed in the United States.
About This Role
Set up and operate a variety of machine tools to produce precision parts and instruments out of metal. Includes precision instrument makers who fabricate, modify, or repair mechanical instruments. May also fabricate and modify parts to make or repair machine tools or maintain industrial machines, applying knowledge of mechanics, mathematics, metal properties, layout, and machining procedures. Machinists who primarily program or operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment are classified in “Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators and Programmers” (51-9160).
Career Outlook
About This Data
Wage figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025 release. OEWS surveys roughly 1.1 million establishments annually. It is the most comprehensive employer-reported wage dataset in the United States.
P10 through P90 percentiles represent the wage distribution across all surveyed employers (not self-reported by workers). Geographic adjustments use BLS-derived cost multipliers calibrated from regional wage variation.
Wages are estimates. Individual compensation depends on experience, education, employer size, industry, and negotiation. Use this as benchmark context, not absolute ground truth.
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