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Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders · SOC 51-4051

Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders Salary in the St. Louis Metro Area

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025St. Louis, MO-IL metro area

Figures describe the St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan statistical area as defined by BLS/OMB — the whole multi-county metro region, not St. Louis city limits.

Median annual wage$51,100
Median hourly wage$24.57

Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders in the St. Louis, MO-IL metro area earned a median of $51,100 per year ($24.57 per hour) as of the May 2025 BLS OEWS estimates. Pay ranged from $45,540 at the 10th percentile to $59,890 at the 90th. BLS estimates 100 people work in this occupation in the area.

Pay distribution

Half of Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders in the St. Louis metro area earn more than $51,100 per year, half earn less; the middle half earn between $45,540 and $57,080.

Wage percentiles (BLS OEWS)
Wage10th25thMedian75th90th
Annual$45,540$45,540$51,100$57,080$59,890
Hourly$21.89$21.90$24.57$27.44$28.79

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

  • St. Louis metro areathis metro area
    $51,100
  • Missouristate (MO)
    $55,480
  • United Statesnational
    $54,430

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

The median here is −8% vs Missouri overall and −6% vs the U.S. median for this occupation.

Compare with other areas

Where this metro sits nationally

$37,060$53,163$69,267$85,370Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC — $37,060Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI — $38,830Charleston-North Charleston, SC — $39,180Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN — $39,450Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI — $40,050Wichita, KS — $40,770Mobile, AL — $43,250Morristown, TN — $43,270Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA — $44,700Killeen-Temple, TX — $45,580York-Hanover, PA — $45,810Akron, OH — $46,210Fort Wayne, IN — $46,380Chattanooga, TN-GA — $46,550Tulsa, OK — $46,550Erie, PA — $46,910Michigan City-La Porte, IN — $46,960Providence-Warwick, RI-MA — $47,570Toledo, OH — $48,410Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH — $48,460Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI — $49,310Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL — $49,410Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX — $49,440Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ — $49,660Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN — $49,690Jacksonville, FL — $49,780Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN — $50,040Lancaster, PA — $50,100Mansfield, OH — $50,250Anniston-Oxford, AL — $50,420Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT — $50,510Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX — $50,990Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ — $51,080St. Louis, MO-IL — $51,100Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI — $51,330Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV — $52,230Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL — $53,130Canton-Massillon, OH — $55,080Birmingham, AL — $56,250Youngstown-Warren, OH — $56,550Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH — $56,710Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN — $57,030Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA — $58,290Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA — $58,310Columbus, OH — $59,950Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA — $60,020New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ — $60,430Salt Lake City-Murray, UT — $60,510Pittsburgh, PA — $60,810Huntsville, AL — $61,390Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC — $61,780Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN — $63,170Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD — $63,170Cleveland, OH — $65,660Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA — $67,360Reading, PA — $68,990Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA — $74,060Utica-Rome, NY — $77,560Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA — $85,370

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 St. Louis metro area has the 26th-highest published median for this occupation among the 59 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”.

Keep exploring

Other occupations in the same SOC group with published medians here, largest employment first:

Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$46,570First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers$75,210Machinists$62,210Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers$51,790Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders$47,460Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic$62,090

Highest-paying metro areas for metal-refining furnace operators and tenderss · Highest-paying occupations in St. Louis 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.