Chemical Plant and System Operators · SOC 51-8091

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Chemical Plant and System Operatorss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for chemical plant and system operators. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (1 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 28 metro areas

Chemical Plant and System Operators: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$117,430	Not published	Not published
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$111,900	300	0.1
3	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$106,020	1,420	0.4
4	Baton Rouge, LA	$104,410	1,720	4.2
5	Lake Charles, LA	$102,310	740	7.3
6	Mobile, AL	$96,210	110	0.7
7	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$92,260	460	1.0
8	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$90,470	200	0.0
9	Worcester, MA	$88,510	90	0.2
10	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$87,210	100	0.1
11	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$84,390	30	0.1
12	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$82,170	410	0.2
13	Richmond, VA	$77,930	340	0.5
14	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$77,260	310	0.1
15	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$69,710	Not published	Not published
16	Spartanburg, SC	$68,810	100	0.6
17	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$68,590	130	0.1
18	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$67,540	80	0.2
19	Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV	$66,840	50	0.5
20	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$66,640	130	0.0
21	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$65,750	110	0.0
22	Greensboro-High Point, NC	$65,450	90	0.3
23	Pittsburgh, PA	$64,360	280	0.2
24	Sioux Falls, SD-MN	$62,160	30	0.2
25	Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC	$60,430	100	0.2

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Chemical Plant and System Operators overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.