Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing · SOC 51-7042

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawings

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

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing. 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 159 metro areas

Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA	$60,070	70	0.2
2	Longview-Kelso, WA	$59,550	70	1.8
3	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$56,950	320	0.2
4	Albany, OR	$56,180	110	2.3
5	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$56,180	350	0.2
6	Bend, OR	$55,400	280	2.6
7	Medford, OR	$52,390	160	1.8
8	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$51,730	110	0.4
9	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$51,030	380	1.0
10	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$50,970	220	0.1
11	Bellingham, WA	$50,220	210	2.3
12	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$50,000	40	0.1
13	Boulder, CO	$49,860	70	0.4
14	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$49,850	440	0.4
15	St. Cloud, MN	$49,790	40	0.4
16	Colorado Springs, CO	$49,140	30	0.1
17	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$49,050	820	0.1
18	Jacksonville, FL	$48,900	140	0.2
19	Eau Claire, WI	$48,710	90	1.0
20	Salem, OR	$48,660	120	0.7
21	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$48,580	40	0.1
22	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$48,330	500	0.2
23	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$47,990	240	0.1
24	La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN	$47,780	70	0.9
25	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$47,720	2,780	4.7

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing 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.