Pay · 51-4022
Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic earn $49,030 a year at the midpoint
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The lowest tenth are paid about $36,800, the highest tenth about $68,720 — figures from the 2025 federal wage survey.
National figures for forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, 51-4022, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
- What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
- The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
- Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
- Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”
Forging machine operator earnings, from starting pay to the highest 10%
Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →
Forging machine operator wages, state by state
The 30 states where the most people do this work, of 32 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.85 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | $69,210 | $52,180 | $52,180 — $89,420 | 30 |
| Oklahoma | $61,720 | $45,170 | $45,170 — $62,170 | — |
| Michigan | $61,620 | $41,820 | $41,820 — $69,100 | 620 |
| Nebraska | $60,460 | $59,800 | $59,800 — $64,980 | 200 |
| Wisconsin | $60,310 | $48,460 | $48,460 — $63,360 | 80 |
| California | $59,250 | $43,390 | $43,390 — $81,730 | 750 |
| Colorado | $57,970 | $39,900 | $39,900 — $67,310 | 140 |
| Ohio | $56,870 | $40,800 | $40,800 — $68,730 | 500 |
| New York | $56,350 | $38,620 | $38,620 — $71,320 | 260 |
| Missouri | $55,210 | $35,070 | $35,070 — $66,160 | 60 |
| Virginia | $54,230 | $47,740 | $47,740 — $59,930 | 560 |
| Indiana | $53,550 | $39,330 | $39,330 — $60,910 | 450 |
| Massachusetts | $51,770 | $39,180 | $39,180 — $89,400 | 310 |
| Kansas | $51,120 | $43,590 | $43,590 — $58,810 | 130 |
| Pennsylvania | $50,280 | $42,800 | $42,800 — $71,490 | 550 |
| Maryland | $49,920 | $49,920 | $49,920 — $53,750 | 30 |
| Illinois | $49,750 | $40,580 | $40,580 — $61,690 | 230 |
| South Carolina | $49,610 | $46,420 | $46,420 — $63,770 | 80 |
| Arizona | $48,730 | $47,510 | $47,510 — $62,350 | 30 |
| Iowa | $47,010 | $45,770 | $45,770 — $58,180 | — |
| Alabama | $46,970 | $36,940 | $36,940 — $78,620 | 70 |
| Georgia | $46,490 | $37,730 | $37,730 — $61,980 | 380 |
| Connecticut | $45,120 | $38,210 | $38,210 — $54,090 | 110 |
| Nevada | $45,040 | $37,980 | $37,980 — $61,240 | 40 |
| Tennessee | $43,810 | $37,140 | $37,140 — $59,200 | 1,140 |
| Florida | $40,480 | $27,040 | $27,040 — $92,490 | 80 |
| Mississippi | $39,550 | $37,490 | $37,490 — $44,500 | 70 |
| Arkansas | $38,120 | $35,060 | $35,060 — $54,800 | 140 |
| Texas | $37,390 | $24,440 | $24,440 — $56,210 | 720 |
| West Virginia | $37,390 | $33,320 | $33,320 — $63,200 | — |
Forging machine operator pay rate, hourly to annual
Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.
Resumes for forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Started machines to produce sample workpieces, and observe operations to detect machine malfunctions and to verify that machine setups conform to specifications.
- Read work orders or blueprints to determine specified tolerances and sequences of operations for machine setup.
- Conferred with other workers about machine setups and operational specifications.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Examples
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Place 543 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 31% of the occupations in the survey.
- 541 First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers $49,100
- 542 Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic $49,080
- 543 Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic $49,030
- 544 Pipelayers $49,000
- 545 Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $48,990
Questions people ask most
What is a forging machine operator’s yearly income?
A forging machine operator makes a median of $49,030 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $42,440 and $60,130.
What is a forging machine operator’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $23.57 an hour; the average is $51,680 a year.
What is the starting pay for a forging machine operator?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $42,440 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $36,800.
Which state pays forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic the most?
Oregon, with a median of $69,210 a year.
How many people work as forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic?
About 8,930 in the United States — number 543 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays nearly the same
Median pay within $70 of what forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn — $49,030 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $40 less Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders $48,990median a year 10th percentile: $36,790 90th percentile: $70,200
- $50 more Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic $49,080median a year 10th percentile: $36,300 90th percentile: $68,410
- $70 more First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers $49,100median a year 10th percentile: $35,520 90th percentile: $76,430