Occupation / job
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders
Median annual pay. Half earn less than this.
Hourly at a standard 2,080-hour year. We do not yet have unpaid-time or cost data for this, so this is not an adjusted figure.
The middle half. A quarter earn below this range.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 · view
What this figure cannot tell you
It covers people EMPLOYED in this occupation. Anyone who trained for it and was never hired is not in the median above, and neither is anyone doing the work self-employed. No verified count of qualified people exists for this occupation, so this page shows none rather than an estimate. Why that matters · The occupations where we could source it
Who this suits
The $58,040 midpoint sits $3.85 an hour above the $50,020 typical American job. That is a 16% premium, and premiums are rationed: whatever rations this one is the thing standing between you and Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders.
National employment is 139,630. At that scale hiring is continuous, the market rate is well established, and your leverage comes from being credibly willing to go somewhere else.
These roles suit people who want a fixed site, a known task and a shift that ends, and who would rather be reliable than promoted.
We carry no verified training length for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders — BLS reports pay, not preparation, and we will not estimate it.
Who should not do this
$45,970 to $74,080 — 1.6x, or $2,342 a month between the quarters. An unremarkable spread, which means the useful planning number for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders is the bottom of it rather than the middle.
The bottom quarter of Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders earns under $45,970, which is within $4,050 of the $50,020 typical American job. An occupation whose 25th percentile is level with the national middle has an unusually forgiving downside.
Avoid it if repetitive work over years would grind you down, which for many people it does.
There is no failure rate on this page because there is nothing honest to divide by. BLS counted 139,630 people employed as Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders; it did not count the people who trained for it and are doing something else, and a rate built without that denominator would be a number we made up.
What the spread tells you
1.6x between $45,970 and $74,080 is the ordinary shape of an occupation where experience and region both matter and neither dominates. $58,040 is a fair expectation by mid-career, not on day one.
In cash terms the middle half of Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders runs $45,970 to $74,080 — $28,110 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $58,040.
Between $45,970 and $74,080 — the two ends of the middle half — sits $58,040. Moving from the midpoint to the upper quarter is worth $16,040; the whole climb from the lower quarter is $28,110.
From $58,040 it is $12,070 down to the bottom quarter and $16,040 up to the top. The upper half of the range is the longer one, which is the ordinary shape for work where experience compounds.
Per hour at a standard full-time year that is $27.90 at the midpoint for Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders, $22.10 at the 25th percentile and $35.61 at the 75th, against $24.04 for the typical American job.
What these figures are, and what they are not
The $58,040 figure is what employers pay employees. It is before tax and before deductions, it excludes the self-employed entirely, and it says nothing about anyone who does this work on their own account.
Treat the per-hour figure as a conversion. It assumes a flat full-time year against $58,040 because we have no verified record of unpaid hours or out-of-pocket costs for this work, and we would rather convert honestly than adjust invented ones.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else