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Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic · SOC 51-4034

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Salary in the Chattanooga Metro Area

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025Chattanooga, TN-GA metro area

Figures describe the Chattanooga, TN-GA metropolitan statistical area as defined by BLS/OMB — the whole multi-county metro region, not Chattanooga city limits.

Median annual wage$39,720
Median hourly wage$19.10

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in the Chattanooga, TN-GA metro area earned a median of $39,720 per year ($19.10 per hour) as of the May 2025 BLS OEWS estimates. Pay ranged from $30,690 at the 10th percentile to $54,530 at the 90th. BLS estimates 30 people work in this occupation in the area.

Pay distribution

Half of Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in the Chattanooga metro area earn more than $39,720 per year, half earn less; the middle half earn between $36,370 and $43,640.

Wage percentiles (BLS OEWS)
Wage10th25thMedian75th90th
Annual$30,690$36,370$39,720$43,640$54,530
Hourly$14.76$17.48$19.10$20.98$26.22

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.

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How this area compares

  • Chattanooga metro areathis metro area
    $39,720
  • Tennesseestate (TN)
    $40,730
  • United Statesnational
    $50,620

Bars span the 25th–75th percentile (the middle half of workers); the tick marks the median.

The median here is −2% vs Tennessee overall and −22% vs the U.S. median for this occupation.

Compare with other areas

Where this metro sits nationally

$36,770$49,320$61,870$74,420Waterbury-Shelton, CT — $36,770Jackson, MI — $38,800Chattanooga, TN-GA — $39,720Oklahoma City, OK — $40,080Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL — $42,460Erie, PA — $43,140Syracuse, NY — $43,490Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI — $44,820Columbia, SC — $45,040Flint, MI — $45,880Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH — $46,330Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN — $47,330Terre Haute, IN — $47,600Rockford, IL — $47,690Providence-Warwick, RI-MA — $47,700Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX — $47,900Tulsa, OK — $48,090Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA — $48,320Omaha, NE-IA — $48,400Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI — $49,210Fort Wayne, IN — $49,340Akron, OH — $49,530Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD — $49,940Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN — $49,980St. Louis, MO-IL — $50,080Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA — $50,180Baton Rouge, LA — $50,550New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ — $50,700Rochester, NY — $50,760Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI — $50,870Toledo, OH — $51,290Cleveland, OH — $51,340Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN — $51,850Youngstown-Warren, OH — $51,890Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN — $51,900Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY — $51,940South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI — $52,000Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX — $52,070Canton-Massillon, OH — $52,330Worcester, MA — $52,440Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN — $52,570Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH — $53,660Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC — $53,840Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD — $54,850Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ — $55,850New Haven, CT — $56,160San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA — $57,010Peoria, IL — $57,330Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA — $57,990Springfield, MA — $59,030Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT — $59,740Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA — $60,110Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA — $60,190San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA — $61,050Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH — $61,890Spartanburg, SC — $61,940Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO — $64,790Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI — $64,950Pittsburgh, PA — $66,500Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT — $66,980San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA — $74,420

Each dot is one metro area with a published median — hover any dot for the name and figure. Metros without published estimates are not drawn.

The Chattanooga metro area has the 59th-highest published median for this occupation among the 61 metro areas where BLS publishes it. Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Other metro areas in Tennessee

Metro areas in the same state with published May 2025 medians for lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, highest first. Areas without published estimates are not listed.

  • Chattanooga metro areathis page
    $39,720
  • Nashville-Davidson metro area
    $51,850

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:

Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$45,330Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers$49,220First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers$70,660Production Workers, All Other$43,160Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers$46,820Bakers$40,880

Highest-paying metro areas for lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics · Highest-paying occupations in Chattanooga Metro

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.