Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators · SOC 51-9151

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operatorss

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for photographic process workers and processing machine operators. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 25 metro areas

Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$60,320	50	0.0
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$56,550	Not published	Not published
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$54,400	130	0.1
4	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$52,000	390	0.0
5	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$50,740	Not published	Not published
6	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$47,450	280	0.0
7	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$46,810	40	0.0
8	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$44,560	120	0.1
9	Jacksonville, FL	$43,490	40	0.1
10	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$43,240	60	0.0
11	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$43,100	60	0.0
12	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$41,280	80	0.0
13	St. Louis, MO-IL	$39,070	40	0.0
14	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$38,860	Not published	Not published
15	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$38,650	60	0.0
16	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$38,400	Not published	Not published
17	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$37,940	Not published	Not published
18	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$37,720	90	0.1
19	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$37,340	140	0.0
20	Muncie, IN	$37,180	Not published	Not published
21	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$34,900	70	0.0
22	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$34,790	40	0.0
23	Columbus, OH	$30,600	40	0.0
24	Cleveland, OH	$29,540	70	0.1
25	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$27,080	Not published	Not published

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine 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.