Sewing Machine Operators · SOC 51-6031

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Sewing Machine Operatorss

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for sewing 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 236 metro areas

Sewing Machine Operators: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Bend, OR	$50,830	50	0.5
2	Glens Falls, NY	$50,000	40	0.9
3	Appleton, WI	$48,460	110	0.9
4	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$48,190	460	0.4
5	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$47,220	50	0.5
6	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$47,220	220	0.2
7	Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC	$46,540	1,860	12.1
8	Bangor, ME	$46,060	70	0.9
9	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$45,210	530	0.3
10	Portland-South Portland, ME	$45,160	240	0.8
11	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$44,880	740	0.3
12	Columbia, SC	$44,810	390	1.0
13	Lewiston-Auburn, ME	$44,670	160	3.4
14	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$44,350	40	0.4
15	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$44,350	1,060	0.5
16	Evansville, IN	$43,800	180	1.3
17	Boulder, CO	$43,740	70	0.4
18	Reno, NV	$43,730	410	1.5
19	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$43,650	130	0.5
20	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$43,500	120	0.4
21	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$43,370	90	0.2
22	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$42,970	850	0.3
23	Napa, CA	$42,550	30	0.4
24	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$42,480	80	0.7
25	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$42,300	1,130	0.6

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Sewing 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.