Table of Contents

Data compiled May 2026 using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 release, published May 15, 2026, supplemented by BLS Current Employment Statistics (CES) data current through April 2026 and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) data through Q2 2025. Wage figures reflect the May 2025 OEWS reference period unless otherwise noted.

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Executive Summary

$58,750/year Median annual wage for machinists (May 2025, OEWS) — up 7.9% year-over-year, the strongest growth among major skilled production trades

$68,120/year Median annual wage for CNC tool programmers — a $17,430 premium over CNC tool operators ($50,690)

$134,960/year Median annual wage for aerospace engineers

The U.S. manufacturing wage landscape in 2026 reflects a workforce defined by wide skill premiums and uneven year-over-year growth rather than across-the-board wage gains. The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release published May 15, 2026, captures a labor market where the gap between assembly-level production wages and skilled trade or engineering wages remains wide, but where YoY growth concentrates in specific skilled-trade occupations rather than spreading evenly across the sector.

The data tells a clear story about where employers are paying up. Machinists earned a median annual wage of $58,750, up 7.9% from the May 2024 OEWS release, well above the 3.0% growth in the all-occupations median. Welders earned $53,750 (up 5.4%), and aircraft structure assemblers earned $65,380 (up 6.0%). CNC tool programmers earned $68,120, a $17,430 premium over CNC operators ($50,690). Industrial machinery mechanics, the workers who keep production running, earned $64,520, exceeding the machinist median and reflecting the structural value of plant maintenance, though YoY growth in this role was a modest 1.2%.

Engineering and management roles in manufacturing-relevant occupations anchor the top of the pay scale. Aerospace engineers ($134,960), electronics engineers excluding computer ($130,220), industrial production managers ($126,060), electrical engineers ($120,630), and mechanical engineers ($104,110) sit at the high end, though engineering YoY growth was generally modest. Aerospace engineers were essentially flat at +0.6%, while mechanical and electrical engineers grew 3.2% and 3.4% respectively.

The wage distribution within manufacturing roles is wider than headline medians suggest. Machinists at the 90th percentile earned $80,010, while machinists at the 10th percentile earned $39,200, a roughly 2x spread that reflects geographic variation, employer differences, and skill specialization within the same occupation. For employers benchmarking comp, the percentile data matters more than the median alone.

For manufacturing leaders, the 2026 wage data confirms what recruiters have reported throughout the year: pay competition is concentrated in roles where skill scarcity is real, not spread evenly across the workforce. Wage strategy in 2026 means treating each role as its own labor market.

Wage data tells you what to pay. It doesn’t tell you where the candidates are. When you’re ready to move from benchmarking to hiring, find manufacturing talent with Amtec’s recruiters. We source skilled production, engineering, and management workers in the markets this report covers.

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Key Manufacturing Wage Benchmarks at a Glance (2026)

National wage context (May 2025, OEWS)

• All-occupations median annual wage: $50,980
• All-occupations mean annual wage: $69,770
• All-occupations median hourly wage: $24.51

Production occupations — median annual wages

• First-line supervisors of production and operating workers: $74,450
• Machinists: $58,750 (+7.9% YoY)
• Welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers: $53,750 (+5.4% YoY)
• CNC tool programmers: $68,120 (+3.7% YoY)
• CNC tool operators: $50,690 (+1.5% YoY)
• Tool and die makers: $64,050 (+1.3% YoY)
• Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers: $65,380 (+6.0% YoY)
• Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers: $48,570
• Semiconductor processing technicians: $51,430
• Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators: $44,650 (see Section 5 note)
• Electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers: $45,850
• Engine and other machine assemblers: $53,710
• Structural metal fabricators and fitters: $51,330
• Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders: $43,220

Maintenance and industrial trades — median annual wages

• Industrial machinery mechanics: $64,520 (+1.2% YoY)
• Millwrights: $65,700
• Maintenance workers, machinery: $60,850
• Electrical and electronics repairers, commercial and industrial equipment: $74,090
• Maintenance and repair workers, general: $49,590 (+2.0% YoY)

Manufacturing-relevant engineering — median annual wages

• Aerospace engineers: $134,960 (+0.6% YoY)
• Electronics engineers, except computer: $130,220
• Chemical engineers: $125,040
• Electrical engineers: $120,630 (+3.4% YoY)
• Materials engineers: $112,860
• Mechanical engineers: $104,110 (+3.2% YoY)
• Industrial engineers: $102,440 (+1.9% YoY)

Manufacturing-relevant management — median annual wages

• Architectural and engineering managers: $171,270
• Industrial production managers: $126,060 (+3.9% YoY)
• General and operations managers: $105,770

Engineering technician roles — median annual wages

• Aerospace engineering and operations technicians: $82,890
• Electrical and electronic engineering technicians: $78,190
• Mechanical engineering technicians: $74,510
• Mechanical drafters: $71,550
• Industrial engineering technicians: $66,120

Broader manufacturing wage context (CES, April 2026; ECEC, Q2 2025)

• Average hourly earnings, all manufacturing employees: $36.68/hour
• Average hourly earnings, production and nonsupervisory: $30.10/hour
• Total compensation per hour worked, manufacturing: ~$46.30/hour (Q2 2025, ECEC)
• Benefits share of total compensation: ~33%

Related: The State of the U.S. Manufacturing Workforce (2026 Benchmark Report)

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1. U.S. Manufacturing Wage Overview

$50,980/year National all-occupations median annual wage (May 2025, OEWS)

The May 2025 OEWS release, published May 15, 2026, sets the national all-occupations median annual wage at $50,980, with a mean of $69,770 across all 155.5 million U.S. workers covered by the survey. Manufacturing wage benchmarks sit above and below this national median depending on the role, with skilled production trades and manufacturing-relevant engineering occupations commanding clear premiums and entry-level assembly roles falling below.

Manufacturing’s wage structure is best understood as three distinct tiers. At the top, engineering and senior management roles command six-figure median wages, with aerospace engineers at $134,960 and industrial production managers at $126,060. In the middle, skilled production and maintenance trades such as machinists, CNC programmers, industrial mechanics, and welders earn between $50,000 and $75,000 annually. At the base, high-volume assembly and material handling roles cluster between $40,000 and $50,000, with the largest production occupation by employment (miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators) at a $44,650 median.

This tiered structure has direct implications for workforce planning. Wage growth and active competition concentrate in the middle tier, where skill scarcity is genuine and qualified replacements are hard to source. The top tier moves with broader engineering and technology labor markets. The base tier increasingly competes with logistics, warehousing, and retail for overlapping labor pools.

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2. Top Manufacturing Production and Maintenance Occupations by Employment

1.4 million Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators — manufacturing’s largest single assembly occupation by employment

The OEWS data confirms that production and plant maintenance work remains the heart of manufacturing employment. The largest manufacturing-relevant occupations by employment are dominated by assembly, machine operation, inspection, and maintenance roles. The wage spread within and across these top occupations is where manufacturers’ real comp decisions get made.

Role	National Employment	Median Annual Wage
General maintenance and repair workers	1,529,700	$49,590
General assemblers and fabricators	1,405,030	$44,650
Production supervisors	673,430	$74,450
Inspectors and testers	597,370	$48,570
Industrial mechanics	439,640	$64,520
Welders	416,210	$53,750
Packaging machine operators	379,060	$43,220
Machinists	287,050	$58,750
Electrical and electronic assemblers	246,970	$45,850
CNC operators	169,450	$50,690

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (released May 15, 2026). Table combines production occupations (SOC 51-xxxx) with manufacturing-relevant installation, maintenance, and repair occupations (SOC 49-xxxx).

The pay distribution across these roles tells a clear story. Pure machine operation and assembly clusters in the $43,000 to $51,000 range. Skilled trades that require multi-year training or specialized certification, including machinists, welders, and industrial mechanics, sit in the $54,000 to $65,000 range. Supervisory roles top out the production tier at $74,450. The wage spread from entry assembly to production supervision is roughly $30,000, illustrating how much room there is for advancement within manufacturing for workers who develop skill depth.

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3. Highest-Paying Manufacturing-Relevant Occupations

$171,270/year Median annual wage for architectural and engineering managers — among the highest-paying manufacturing-aligned roles

The highest-paying manufacturing-aligned roles cluster in two categories: senior engineering management and specialized engineering. Architectural and engineering managers ($171,270) lead the pay scale, followed by aerospace engineers ($134,960), electronics engineers excluding computer ($130,220), industrial production managers ($126,060), sales engineers ($124,900), electrical engineers ($120,630), and mechanical engineers ($104,110).

Within the production tier itself, several roles stand out for premium compensation:

CNC tool programmers — $68,120 median. The programming counterpart to CNC machine operation commands a $17,430 premium over the operator role ($50,690). The gap between operator and programmer pay has been stable in recent years rather than widening. Programmer wages grew 3.7% YoY while operator wages grew 1.5%, but the level of the premium reflects sustained employer willingness to pay for the skill of programming, not just running, the machines. At the 90th percentile, CNC programmers earn $100,320, well into the six-figure range.

Aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers — $65,380 median. This aerospace-specific assembly specialty earns nearly $21,000 more than the miscellaneous assembler median ($44,650), reflecting the precision, certification, and FAA regulatory requirements of aircraft manufacturing. Wages in this role grew 6.0% YoY, among the strongest in production occupations. At the 90th percentile, these assemblers earn $107,500.

Industrial machinery mechanics — $64,520 median. Plant maintenance remains a key constraint on production throughput, and median wages for industrial machinery mechanics continue to exceed those of machinists ($58,750). The premium is stable rather than accelerating. YoY growth was a modest 1.2%, suggesting employers have already priced this scarcity in. With 439,640 workers nationally, this is one of manufacturing’s larger occupational categories, meaning the wage level is broad-based, not concentrated in a small specialty.

Machinists — $58,750 median, up 7.9% YoY. Machinists saw the strongest wage growth among major skilled production trades in the May 2025 OEWS release, well above the all-occupations baseline of 3.0%. The combination of an aging workforce, constrained training pipelines, and broad demand across manufacturing subsectors continues to push wages for experienced machinists upward. This single-cycle figure is large enough to warrant confirmation in the next OEWS release before being treated as a durable trend, but it sits at the top of a coherent cluster of skilled-trade wage gains (aircraft assemblers +6.0%, welders +5.4%) rather than appearing as an isolated jump.

Tool and die makers — $64,050 median. Among the most specialized of the metal trades. The 90th-percentile wage of $92,680 reflects the premium for the most experienced practitioners of a skill set with limited new entrants.

Sales engineers — $124,900 median. Often overlooked in manufacturing wage discussions, sales engineers, the technical sales professionals who translate engineering capability to customers, command engineering-tier wages. Their role bridges the production floor and customer-facing revenue work.

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4. Geographic Wage Variation

Manufacturing wages vary significantly by state and metropolitan area, with the spread driven by industry mix, cost of living, regulatory environment, and competition for skilled labor. California, with major aerospace, defense, electronics, and advanced manufacturing clusters and an all-occupations median wage well above the national figure, illustrates how dramatically state-level and metro-level manufacturing wage benchmarks can diverge from national medians, and from each other.

California all-occupations context (May 2025, OEWS):

• Median annual wage, all occupations: $58,240 (vs. $50,980 national, a 14.2% premium)
• Mean annual wage, all occupations: $80,690
• Median hourly wage, all occupations: $28.00

California state-level medians for selected manufacturing-relevant occupations:

Role	CA Median	National	CA vs. National
Aerospace engineers	$157,620	$134,960	+16.8%
Electronics engineers	$160,520	$130,220	+23.3%
Electrical engineers	$144,040	$120,630	+19.4%
Mechanical engineers	$130,900	$104,110	+25.7%
Industrial engineers	$124,600	$102,440	+21.6%
A&E managers	$210,280	$171,270	+22.8%
Production managers	$132,620	$126,060	+5.2%
Machinists	$57,190	$58,750	−2.7%
Aircraft assemblers	$63,640	$65,380	−2.7%
CNC programmers	$82,090	$68,120	+20.5%
Industrial mechanics	$74,400	$64,520	+15.3%

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (released May 15, 2026)

The state-level number, however, conceals significant metro-level variation. California’s manufacturing labor market is not one market; it’s at least four distinct ones, each with different industry concentration, wage levels, and competitive dynamics. The metro-level all-occupations medians make this immediately visible:

Metro Area	All-Occ. Median	vs. National	vs. CA State
LA Metro	$55,850	+9.5%	−4.1%
San Diego	$58,690	+15.1%	+0.8%
Oxnard	$52,510	+3.0%	−9.8%
Inland Empire	$48,400	−5.1%	−16.9%

The Inland Empire, defined here as the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA, has an all-occupations median below the national figure, despite sitting inside one of the nation’s highest-wage states. For manufacturers in the region, this single fact has more practical implication than any other geographic data point in this report.

4.1 California Manufacturing Engineering Wages

California engineering wages in manufacturing-relevant occupations run substantially above national medians, but the premium concentrates by industry specialty rather than distributing evenly across the state.

Role	National	LA Metro	San Diego	Oxnard	Inland Empire
Aerospace engineers	$134,960	$163,280	$135,010	$128,670	$129,530
Electronics engineers	$130,220	$140,530	$156,480	$147,180	$130,940
Electrical engineers	$120,630	$139,780	$127,270	$129,880	$109,990
Mechanical engineers	$104,110	$123,900	$121,750	$117,380	$104,910
Industrial engineers	$102,440	$113,040	$119,050	$101,630	$101,700
Materials engineers	$112,860	$125,200	$124,180	$122,450	$109,100
Production managers	$126,060	$128,540	$132,150	$126,250	$121,090
A&E managers	$171,270	$190,900	$202,810	$179,760	$172,600

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (released May 15, 2026). Bold indicates the highest median among the four California metros for each occupation.

Three patterns warrant attention:

Los Angeles dominates aerospace engineering. At a median of $163,280, aerospace engineers in the LA-Long Beach-Anaheim metro earn 21.0% more than the national median ($134,960) and 3.6% more than the California statewide median ($157,620). With 5,200 aerospace engineers employed in the metro and a location quotient of 1.91, LA’s aerospace concentration drives the country’s most expensive aerospace engineering labor market. For employers competing against LA-based primes for aerospace engineering talent, the national benchmark dramatically understates competitive wage levels.

San Diego dominates computer hardware and electronics engineering. San Diego’s computer hardware engineer median of $174,440 (with a location quotient of 4.39, over four times the national concentration) reflects the region’s defense electronics, telecommunications, and semiconductor footprint. Electronics engineers in San Diego earn $156,480 (LQ 3.60), well above LA’s $140,530 figure. Architectural and engineering managers in San Diego earn $202,810, the highest figure across the four metros and 18.4% above the national median. For manufacturers benchmarking against the San Diego market, the relevant comparison is not California state-level data but the San Diego metro figures specifically.

The Inland Empire’s engineering wages track close to national medians, sometimes below. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario engineering wages are modestly competitive in some specialties (architectural and engineering managers at $172,600 match the national median) but materially below California state-level figures for nearly every engineering role. Electrical engineers in the Inland Empire earn $109,990, which is 8.8% below the national median and 23.7% below the California state median. For Inland Empire manufacturers, the relevant benchmark is not California’s $144,040 electrical engineer median; it’s closer to the national figure.

4.2 California Manufacturing Production Wages

California production wages tell a more complicated, and more counterintuitive, story than engineering wages. The premium concentrates in CNC programming, industrial maintenance, and skilled electrical trades. Several core skilled production roles, however, earn less in California metros than they do at the national median.

Role	National	LA Metro	San Diego	Oxnard	Inland Empire
Production supervisors	$74,450	$74,740	$79,350	$75,310	$71,180
Machinists	$58,750	$55,660	$61,420	$56,530	$49,440
Welders	$53,750	$56,160	$62,560	$54,560	$52,050
CNC programmers	$68,120	$82,950	$79,990	$65,500	$70,230
CNC operators	$50,690	$54,980	$54,910	$57,310	$49,460
Tool and die makers	$64,050	$78,020	$85,010*	$72,390	$62,690
Aircraft assemblers	$65,380	$65,000	$60,610	$54,560	$50,190
Industrial mechanics	$64,520	$72,090	$67,480	$69,200	$73,200
General assemblers	$44,650	$46,190	$47,350	$45,310	$43,120

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (released May 15, 2026). Bold indicates the highest or lowest figure across the four California metros for that occupation. SD tool and die makers figure based on a small sample (n=100) and should be treated with caution.

Several findings warrant a closer look.

Machinist wages do not follow California’s overall wage premium. Machinists earn a median of $58,750 nationally, but only $55,660 in LA-Long Beach-Anaheim, $56,530 in Oxnard, and $49,440 in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, all below the national figure despite California’s elevated overall wage level. Only San Diego, at $61,420, pays machinists modestly above the national median. The pattern is similar for aircraft structure assemblers, though even more uniformly below national: $50,190 in the Inland Empire, $54,560 in Oxnard, $60,610 in San Diego, and $65,000 in LA — all four California metros below the national median ($65,380), with LA only narrowly so.

This is counterintuitive. One possible interpretation is that metro-level industry mix, employer composition, and seniority structures are compressing published machinist medians in some Southern California markets. The Inland Empire figure in particular reflects a labor market that competes for machinists against logistics and warehousing, not against LA-area aerospace primes. The OEWS data alone does not identify the cause, but for manufacturers in any of these markets, the implication is direct: California’s $57,190 statewide machinist median, while real, is not the right benchmark for a hire in any specific metro. The relevant comparison is the metro-level figure, and in three of the four metros covered here, that figure sits below national.

The CNC programmer premium is concentrated in LA and San Diego. At $82,950 in LA-Long Beach-Anaheim and $79,990 in San Diego, CNC programmer median wages exceed the national figure ($68,120) by 21.8% and 17.4% respectively. In the Inland Empire ($70,230) and Oxnard ($65,500), the premium narrows substantially or disappears. The CNC programmer market is genuinely split: in LA and San Diego, where aerospace and defense electronics drive demand, programming skill commands a premium well above engineering technician wages. In the rest of Southern California, programmers earn roughly national median or below.

Industrial machinery mechanics earn premium wages across all four metros, the single consistent skilled-production wage story in California. The premium ranges from +4.6% in San Diego ($67,480) to +13.5% in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario ($73,200) versus the national median ($64,520). The Inland Empire’s industrial mechanic figure is particularly notable: it’s one of the only skilled production roles where Inland Empire wages exceed the national median. Maintenance scarcity is structural across California’s manufacturing footprint and employers have priced it into wage levels consistently, even in regions where other production wages run below national.

4.3 What This Means for Regional Benchmarking

The metro-level data has a clear implication for any manufacturer benchmarking compensation in Southern California: California state-level wage data understates wages in some markets and overstates wages in others, depending on the role and the metro. Three practical takeaways for comp teams:

For engineering hires in LA-Long Beach-Anaheim or San Diego, the national benchmark is not adequate. These metros sit substantially above national for aerospace, electronics, computer hardware, and senior engineering management roles. Use metro-level figures, not state or national medians.

For skilled production hires in the Inland Empire, the California state-level benchmark is the wrong reference point. The Inland Empire labor market for machinists, aircraft structure assemblers, and CNC operators sits below the national median, not above. Manufacturers using California’s $57,190 machinist median will overpay relative to what the local market clears at.

For industrial maintenance hires anywhere in Southern California, expect to pay above national medians. This is the only skilled-production category that consistently commands a premium across all four metros studied, and the wage level reflects structural scarcity rather than regional cost-of-living adjustment alone.

Related: For workforce composition and hiring dynamics in this region, see The State of the Inland Empire Workforce.

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5. Year-Over-Year Manufacturing Wage Growth

Year-over-year wage growth in the May 2025 OEWS release shows that the manufacturing wage story is increasingly one of bifurcation rather than uniform moderation. Several skilled production trades posted growth well above the all-occupations baseline of 3.0%, while maintenance, CNC operation, and engineering grew more modestly. The April 2026 BLS Current Employment Statistics data shows manufacturing production and nonsupervisory hourly earnings at $30.10/hour, the first time this series has crossed the $30 threshold and roughly 3.6% YoY growth from $29.06/hour a year prior.

Strongest wage growth (above the 3.0% all-occupations baseline):

• Machinists: +7.9%
• Aircraft structure assemblers: +6.0%
• Welders: +5.4%
• First-line production supervisors: +4.6%
• Industrial production managers: +3.9%
• CNC tool programmers: +3.7%

Modest wage growth (below the baseline):

• Mechanical engineers: +3.2%
• Electrical engineers: +3.4%
• Maintenance and repair workers, general: +2.0%
• Industrial engineers: +1.9%
• CNC tool operators: +1.5%
• Tool and die makers: +1.3%
• Industrial machinery mechanics: +1.2%
• Aerospace engineers: +0.6%

The machinist YoY figure (+7.9%) is the standout. It exceeds growth in every engineering category in the manufacturing complex and reflects sustained tightness in the skilled-machinist labor market. Combined with strong growth for aircraft structure assemblers (+6.0%) and welders (+5.4%), the data points to a clear pattern: traditional precision metalwork trades, including machining, welding, and aerospace-grade assembly, are absorbing the bulk of manufacturing wage growth in this cycle.

The most modest growth appears in two notable places. First, industrial machinery mechanics (+1.2%), the role often cited as the manufacturing labor shortage’s tightest pressure point, grew well below the all-occupations baseline. The wage level for this occupation remains elevated relative to machinists, but employers have evidently already priced the scarcity in, and the premium is stable rather than accelerating. Second, aerospace engineers (+0.6%) were essentially flat, reflecting softening demand in some aerospace engineering specialties even as production-side aerospace assembly wages continued to climb.

One outlier worth flagging: miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators showed a +16.9% YoY median hourly wage increase ($18.37 to $21.47). This is dramatically out of line with every other production occupation and warrants caution. The most likely drivers are state minimum wage floor increases in 2024-2025 (California, Washington, Illinois, New York, and others raised mandatory floors meaningfully), OEWS sample reweighting, and possible occupational reclassification at the SOC residual category, not genuine market-wage movement of that magnitude. Readers should treat this single-year change as suspect pending the next OEWS release.

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6. Manufacturing Wage Distribution and Percentiles

$80,010/year 90th percentile annual wage for machinists — over 2x the 10th percentile wage

The percentile distribution within manufacturing occupations matters more than the median alone for comp planning. A median tells you what half the workforce earns; the 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles tell you where competitive offers actually land and how wide the comp band realistically should be. The May 2025 OEWS release publishes full percentile distributions for each occupation, and the spreads reveal substantial variation within roles that are often treated as homogeneous.

Role	10th Pct	25th Pct	Median	75th Pct	90th Pct
Machinists	$39,200	$47,570	$58,750	$67,700	$80,010
Welders	$39,240	$46,790	$53,750	$63,010	$77,530
Industrial mechanics	$46,120	$55,010	$64,520	$78,780	$95,170
CNC operators	$38,140	$44,930	$50,690	$61,760	$73,890
CNC programmers	$47,530	$58,270	$68,120	$81,890	$100,320
Tool and die makers	$44,680	$51,490	$64,050	$78,770	$92,680
Aircraft assemblers	$47,310	$58,600	$65,380	$83,410	$107,500
General assemblers	$33,280	$37,380	$44,650	$51,200	$64,880
Inspectors and testers	$35,510	$39,890	$48,570	$61,440	$77,860
Production supervisors	$47,130	$58,630	$74,450	$91,680	$108,750
Mechanical engineers	$73,990	$84,130	$104,110	$132,590	$164,340
Industrial engineers	$74,370	$83,600	$102,440	$129,250	$159,860
Aerospace engineers	$86,700	$106,110	$134,960	$169,690	$205,890
Production managers	$78,000	$98,160	$126,060	$161,880	$205,520

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025 (released May 15, 2026)

The percentile data illuminates several practical realities. For machinists, the spread from 10th to 90th percentile is roughly $41,000, meaning the same job title can pay dramatically different wages depending on employer, region, and skill specialization. A 25th-percentile offer for a machinist ($47,570) will not compete in markets where 75th-percentile pay ($67,700) is the going rate. For industrial machinery mechanics, the 10th-to-90th spread is approximately $49,000, with the 75th percentile ($78,780) approaching entry-level engineering wages.

For comp teams, the practical takeaway is this: median benchmarks are starting points, not endpoints. Where you place within the percentile distribution should reflect your competitive position, role criticality, and the local labor market, not industry averages.

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7. Total Compensation Beyond Wages

~$46.30/hour Total employer compensation per hour worked in manufacturing (Q2 2025, BLS ECEC)

Wages alone understate the real cost and value of manufacturing labor. According to BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) data, total compensation in manufacturing averaged $46.30 per hour worked in Q2 2025, with benefits accounting for approximately one-third of that total.

The benefits structure in manufacturing is notably comprehensive compared to many comparison industries. Health insurance availability is among the highest of any sector. 95% of manufacturing employees were eligible for employer-provided health benefits in 2025, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data cited by the National Association of Manufacturers, well above the 80% all-industries average. Retirement plan participation, paid leave, and short-term disability coverage are also widespread.

For comp planning, wage benchmarks from OEWS data should be paired with total-compensation considerations. A manufacturing role offering median wages plus a strong benefits package can be competitive against a role offering above-median wages with weaker benefits. Increasingly, manufacturers compete on total compensation, not wages alone, particularly against logistics and warehousing competitors who may offer faster wage growth but thinner benefits.

Related: For broader workforce context including benefits incidence and total comp dynamics, see The State of the U.S. Manufacturing Workforce (2026 Benchmark Report).

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8. What’s Driving Manufacturing Wage Trends in 2026

Several structural forces shape manufacturing wages in 2026. Understanding these dynamics matters more for comp planning than tracking month-to-month wage moves.

Skill scarcity, not headcount scarcity, drives wage pressure. The manufacturing labor shortage isn’t uniform. NAM survey data shows the average manufacturer had 4.1% of roles unfilled in Q1 2026, but those unfilled roles cluster heavily in skilled production, maintenance, and engineering. Employers can hire general assemblers; they cannot hire experienced machinists or CNC programmers at posted wages. The YoY data confirms this. Machinists earned +7.9% wage growth and aircraft structure assemblers +6.0%, while general assembly grew much more slowly outside the misc assemblers outlier flagged in Section 5.

The CNC operator-to-programmer gap is large but stable. The $17,430 median wage gap between CNC tool operators ($50,690) and CNC tool programmers ($68,120) reflects a sustained premium for programming skill. YoY growth was higher for programmers (+3.7%) than operators (+1.5%), but the difference is modest. The gap is holding, not widening sharply. For employers, the takeaway is that programming skill remains a meaningful wage line in the plant, and the 90th-percentile programmer wage of $100,320 crosses six figures.

Aerospace and defense manufacturing pulls production wages above the sector median. Aircraft structure assemblers ($65,380) and the broader A&D production complex pay materially above general manufacturing benchmarks, with strong YoY wage growth in production-side aerospace roles (+6.0% for aircraft structure assemblers). Aerospace engineering wages told a different story this cycle. Aerospace engineer medians were essentially flat YoY (+0.6%), but for manufacturers competing with A&D primes for skilled production labor, especially in California, Washington, Texas, and the Southeast, the local wage market may be set by aerospace employers rather than general manufacturing averages.

Industrial maintenance retains its wage premium but isn’t this year’s growth story. Median wages for industrial machinery mechanics ($64,520) continue to exceed those of machinists ($58,750), reflecting how critical experienced maintenance technicians have become to plant uptime. But YoY growth in 2025 was modest (+1.2%), well below machinists (+7.9%) and the all-occupations baseline (+3.0%), suggesting the maintenance premium is now stable rather than actively expanding. Employers have priced the scarcity in; the comp risk has shifted from “are we paying enough?” to “are we retaining the ones we have?”

Title deflation distorts published benchmarks. Recruiters working active searches report widespread use of lower-tier titles to justify below-market salaries for what are effectively senior roles. A “Manufacturing Manager” job that actually requires Plant Manager or Operations Manager experience will be priced against the wrong benchmark, then fail to attract qualified candidates.

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9. Manufacturing Wage Outlook

Wage moderation across the manufacturing sector is likely to continue through 2026, but moderation should not be confused with reversal. Three forces will shape the next twelve months.

The first is demand stability with a cautious tilt. NAM’s Q1 2026 outlook survey shows 75.3% of manufacturers reporting a positive outlook, the first reading above the historical average since Q1 2023, but only 43% expect to increase hiring. This combination suggests stable wage budgets with selective increases targeted at hard-to-fill roles, rather than across-the-board adjustments.

The second is the productivity-wage tradeoff. Recent BLS productivity data shows manufacturing output per hour growing in part because hours worked are declining. Manufacturers are producing more per hour partly because they’re running leaner, which sustains wage growth for retained workers while limiting headcount expansion. This dynamic favors wage premiums for high-skill roles over wage growth for entry-level positions.

The third is the structural-shortage durability. The skilled production workforce continues to age, replacement training is constrained, and immigration policy uncertainty affects the foreign-born share of the manufacturing workforce. None of these resolve through wage moderation. They suggest continued upward wage pressure for skilled roles even as headline manufacturing wage growth slows.

For 2027 wage planning, manufacturers should expect: continued premium growth for skilled metalwork trades including machining, welding, and aerospace-grade assembly; flat-to-modest growth for industrial maintenance roles where wage premiums have already been priced in; moderating growth for general assembly and material handling; and pressure to differentiate on benefits and total comp as wage gaps with adjacent industries narrow.

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What This Means for Manufacturing Leaders

• Benchmark by role and by metro, not by state or industry average. The wage spread within manufacturing is wider than the spread between manufacturing and adjacent sectors, and metro-level wages in the same state can diverge by more than 20% for the same role
• Pay specific attention to the machinist, CNC programmer, and skilled aerospace assembler markets, where wage growth is concentrated in this cycle
• For California hires, the relevant benchmark is metro-level data. The state median understates LA and San Diego engineering wages and overstates Inland Empire skilled production wages
• Build percentile-aware comp bands; 25th-percentile offers won’t compete in skilled trades, but 75th-percentile offers may be wasted on roles where median is sufficient
• Treat total compensation, not wages alone, as the competitive metric; benefits represent roughly one-third of comp cost and are a meaningful differentiator
• Audit job titles to ensure published benchmarks match the role actually being filled; title deflation produces failed searches

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Key Takeaways

• Skilled metalwork trades (machinists, welders, aircraft assemblers) are absorbing the bulk of 2025 wage growth, with machinists up 7.9% YoY
• The CNC operator-to-programmer wage gap ($17,430) is large and stable. Programmer wages remain a meaningful skill premium even as YoY growth holds steady
• Industrial machinery mechanics ($64,520) still out-earn machinists ($58,750), but the premium is stable rather than expanding (+1.2% YoY)
• Aerospace-specific assembly ($65,380) pays nearly $21,000 above general assembly, reflecting precision and certification requirements
• California’s wage premium concentrates by metro and by industry specialty. LA leads aerospace engineering at $163,280, San Diego leads computer hardware engineering at $174,440, and the Inland Empire trails both with engineering wages closer to national medians
• Three of four California metros studied pay machinists below the national median. California’s state-level data is the wrong benchmark for metro-level machinist comp
• Engineering and senior management roles anchor the top of manufacturing-relevant pay at $102,000 to $200,000+
• Percentile spreads within occupations are wide; median benchmarks alone don’t capture competitive comp realities
• Total compensation in manufacturing averages $46.30 per hour worked, with benefits at roughly one-third of total

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Methodology & Sources

This report consolidates publicly available federal data and industry research to provide a comprehensive view of U.S. manufacturing wages in 2026.

The report was compiled in May 2026 using the most recent BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release (May 2025 reference period, published May 15, 2026), with supplementary data from BLS Current Employment Statistics current through April 2026, BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data through Q2 2025, and Kaiser Family Foundation and NAM data as cited.

Scope

• Occupational scope: Production occupations (SOC 51-xxxx); manufacturing-relevant Architecture and Engineering occupations (SOC 17-xxxx); Industrial Production Managers and related management roles employed in manufacturing-aligned settings (SOC 11-3051, 11-9041, 11-1021); manufacturing-relevant Installation, Maintenance, and Repair occupations (SOC 49-2094, 49-9041, 49-9043, 49-9044, 49-9071); and Sales Engineers (SOC 41-9031). Including SOC 49, 11, and 41 occupations alongside SOC 51 production roles reflects how manufacturers actually staff plants and benchmark wages, even though OEWS classifies these under separate occupational groups.
• Industry context: NAICS 31–33 (Manufacturing)
• Geography: United States, with state-level data for California and metropolitan area data for Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, San Diego–Chula Vista–Carlsbad, Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura, and Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario
• Wage definition: Median base wages from OEWS unless noted otherwise. Total compensation figures from ECEC include base wages, supplemental pay, employer-paid benefits (insurance, retirement, legally required), and paid leave.

Note on annualized median wages

OEWS publishes hourly wage percentiles for most occupations and annual wage percentiles separately. For hourly occupations, annual median wages in this report were calculated by annualizing the OEWS median hourly wage at 2,080 hours per year (40 hours per week × 52 weeks). The “annual mean wage” columns in some OEWS tables refer to mean rather than median wages; this report uses annualized medians for consistency, which is why some figures here will differ from “annual wage” columns in the BLS PDFs.

Note on cross-industry occupational data

OEWS occupation-level wage data is cross-industry by default. Wages reflect what a given occupation earns wherever it works, not exclusively within manufacturing. For occupations heavily concentrated in manufacturing (machinists, welders, CNC operators, aircraft structure assemblers), cross-industry medians closely reflect manufacturing-industry wages. For occupations employed broadly across the economy (mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, general maintenance workers, sales engineers, general and operations managers), the OEWS medians reflect cross-industry compensation, not manufacturing-only compensation. The report uses these figures as manufacturing-relevant occupational wage benchmarks rather than as industry-specific manufacturing wages. BLS also publishes industry-specific OEWS data at the NAICS 4-digit level in supplementary tables for users requiring strict manufacturing-only cuts.

Primary Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) Official U.S. government wage and employment data at the occupation level. The May 2025 OEWS estimates were released May 15, 2026, and are the primary source for occupation-level wage figures in this report.

• News release: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.htm
• National data: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm
• State data: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcst.htm
• Metropolitan area data: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oessrcma.htm

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Current Employment Statistics (CES) Used for industry-level average hourly earnings and the April 2026 manufacturing employment context. https://www.bls.gov/ces/

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) Used for total compensation and benefits-share figures, Q2 2025 reference period. The ECEC news release rotates which industry it spotlights each quarter, providing a manufacturing-specific compensation summary only in certain releases. The June 2025 release (Q2 2025) featured manufacturing as the spotlight industry, including the $46.30/hour total compensation figure cited in this report. The September and December 2025 releases featured different industries (notably wholesale and retail trade in the Q4 2025 release). BLS’s underlying ECEC tables continue to publish manufacturing compensation data each quarter; this report uses the Q2 2025 figure for consistency with the most recent ECEC news release narrative that summarized manufacturing-specific costs directly. https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/

National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Q1 2026 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey used for hiring expectations and outlook context. https://nam.org/2026-first-quarter-manufacturers-outlook-survey/

Kaiser Family Foundation 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, cited via NAM, used for health insurance eligibility figures.