Occupation / job
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
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
A $48,750 median against $50,020 across all occupations puts Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic within $105 a month of the exact middle of the American labour market. Nothing in the headline number argues either way.
Nationally 14,000 people do this. That is a real occupation with a thin local presence — enough that Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is a career, not enough that you can assume a second employer down the road.
These roles suit people who want a trade where the work is measurable to the thousandth and nobody can argue with the gauge.
How long it takes to become one of the 14,000 people doing this is not something we have a source for. BLS counts and pays them; it does not record how they got there, and we would rather say so than guess.
Who should not do this
The middle half runs $40,660 to $58,400 — $1,478 a month between the quarters, a 1.4x ratio. Spreads this narrow are usually set by a grade or a scale, so the negotiation you are imagining probably is not available.
The 25th percentile of $40,660 is only $9,360 off the $50,020 national midpoint. Being in the worst-paid quarter of Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic still means being paid close to what the average American job pays.
Avoid it if you could not move should the plant go, because these jobs are concentrated where the plants are.
You will not find a "what share make it" figure here. 14,000 is a headcount of the employed, which is a numerator without a denominator — everyone who qualified and never got hired is missing from it, and we will not estimate them to complete a percentage.
What the spread tells you
The quarters are $40,660 and $58,400, a ratio of 1.4x. In a distribution this narrow, the biggest single lever on your pay in Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is the cost of living where you do it.
In cash terms the middle half of Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic runs $40,660 to $58,400 — $17,740 a year between the 25th and 75th percentiles, against a midpoint of $48,750.
The 75th percentile is $58,400. Reaching it from the $48,750 midpoint is $9,650 a year; reaching it from the $40,660 that the bottom quarter of Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic earn is $17,740.
The climb from $48,750 to $58,400 is $9,650; the drop to $40,660 is $8,090. A little more room above the midpoint than below it is the normal shape for Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic and for most paid work, and it is the reason the median is the honest summary rather than the average.
On a 2,080-hour year the midpoint for Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is $23.43 an hour. The quarters sit at $19.54 and $28.07, and the all-occupation midpoint at $24.04.
What these figures are, and what they are not
Employers reported these wages for people already working as Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. The self-employed are excluded, so $48,750 does not describe an independent doing the same work.
Treat the per-hour figure as a conversion. It assumes a flat full-time year against $48,750 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