Occupation / job
Rolling Machine 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
Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic pays $50,140 at the midpoint against $50,020 across all occupations. The headline argues neither for nor against it; the case has to be made on the spread, the entry cost and what the day is actually like.
With 25,250 employed as Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic, most metros have a working market: several employers, visible turnover, and the ability to change jobs without moving house.
These roles suit people who want a trade where the work is measurable to the thousandth and nobody can argue with the gauge.
We carry no verified training length for Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic — BLS reports pay, not preparation, and we will not estimate it.
Who should not do this
A quarter of Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic earn under $44,020 and a quarter over $61,880 — 1.4x, or $17,860 apart. Narrow spreads usually mean a pay schedule, which is stability bought at the price of upside.
The bottom quarter of Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic earns under $44,020, which is within $6,000 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 the noise, the fume exposure and the standing are not acceptable long-run terms.
There is no failure rate on this page because there is nothing honest to divide by. BLS counted 25,250 people employed as Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic; 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
Top quarter to bottom quarter is 1.4x. In a band that narrow, $50,140 is a genuinely representative number for Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic and the main variable left is where you live.
Put in money rather than ratios: $44,020 at the 25th percentile, $50,140 at the midpoint, $61,880 at the 75th. $17,860 separates the quarter of Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic at the bottom from the quarter at the top.
Getting to $61,880, the 75th percentile, is worth $11,740 a year more than the $50,140 midpoint and $17,860 more than the $44,020 a quarter of Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic settle for.
From $50,140 the drop to $44,020 is $6,120 and the climb to $61,880 is $11,740. When the upper half of the range is that much longer, the average is pulled well above the median — which is exactly why this site publishes the median.
On a 2,080-hour year the midpoint for Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is $24.10 an hour. The quarters sit at $21.16 and $29.75, and the all-occupation midpoint at $24.04.
What these figures are, and what they are not
This is payroll data: it comes from employers, about people they employ. Anyone doing the work of Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic for themselves is not in it, and there is no reason to assume $50,140 describes them.
With no unpaid-hours or cost data for Rolling Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic, the hourly figure is $50,140 over a 2,080-hour year — a unit conversion, not an adjustment.
How this is calculated · Self-employment failure rates · What credentials cost and pay back · Look up something else