Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · SOC 51-4033
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Salary in the Indiana
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025Indiana
Figures describe the state of Indiana as a whole.
Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in the Indiana earned a median of $47,310 per year ($22.74 per hour) as of the May 2025 BLS OEWS estimates. Pay ranged from $38,790 at the 10th percentile to $61,360 at the 90th. BLS estimates 4,170 people work in this occupation in the area.
Pay distribution
Half of Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in the Indiana earn more than $47,310 per year, half earn less; the middle half earn between $42,730 and $51,030.
| Wage | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual | $38,790 | $42,730 | $47,310 | $51,030 | $61,360 |
| Hourly | $18.65 | $20.54 | $22.74 | $24.54 | $29.50 |
A percentile is a cut point: 25% of workers in this occupation and area earn less than the 25th-percentile wage. The median is the 50th percentile — half earn less, half earn more.
How this area compares
- Indiana$47,310 median for Indiana; middle half earns $42,730 to $51,030
- United Statesnational$46,550 median for United States; middle half earns $39,390 to $54,290
Bars span the 25th–75th percentile (the middle half of workers); the tick marks the median.
The median here is +2% vs the U.S. median for this occupation.
Metro areas in Indiana
Metro areas in the same state with published May 2025 medians for grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, highest first. Areas without published estimates are not listed.
- Indianathis page$47,310 median for Indiana; middle half earns $42,730 to $51,030
- $47,680 median for Indianapolis metro area; middle half earns $42,730 to $51,320
- $47,440 median for Elkhart metro area; middle half earns $44,900 to $49,460
- $46,530 median for Fort Wayne metro area; middle half earns $45,580 to $48,790
- $46,370 median for Terre Haute metro area; middle half earns $44,020 to $46,800
- $45,230 median for Evansville metro area; middle half earns $40,610 to $47,560
- $44,340 median for South Bend metro area; middle half earns $40,460 to $49,410
Bars span the 25th–75th percentile (the middle half of workers); the tick marks the median.
Keep exploring
Other occupations in the same SOC group with published medians here, largest employment first:
Highest-paying metro areas for grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics · Highest-paying occupations in Indiana
About this estimate
These figures are survey estimates from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program — modeled from employer reports collected over three years and benchmarked to May 2025. They describe what employers in this area currently pay across all industries, not what any individual worker will be offered.
Employment counts wage-and-salary jobs in the occupation (self-employed workers are excluded). Estimates carry sampling error; percentile wages are rounded by BLS. Some values are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality or quality — suppressed values appear here as “not published”, never as zero. Read the full methodology.
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.