Robotics workforce
Machinists earn about $58,750; 299,500 jobs, little growth ahead
About $58,750 a year. That is the median wage for machinists on O*NET, roughly $28.24 an hour, and it is the occupation behind CNC cells and much of the machine-tending that robots now share.
O*NET counts about 299,500 machinists and projects little or no change in employment over the decade, with roughly 29,500 openings expected as workers retire or move on. The work is steady, and most of the hiring replaces people rather than adding headcount.
This page traces the wage and outlook to O*NET, the Department of Labor's occupation database, and keeps one line clear: this counts the human occupation, and the robots that tend the same machines are tallied elsewhere. Cite it for pay and staffing, and reach for robotics data when the subject is the machines.
Data covers O*NET Online occupation summary for Machinists (SOC 51-4041.00); wages 2025. Published 2026-07-25. Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Last updated 2026-07-25. Edited by Mike Ramsey / Reliable Media.
The figures and where they come from
Each figure is rated for how safely you can cite it today. Ratings judge current usability, not whether a number was ever correct.
| Figure | What it is | Source | Citation Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $58,750 | Median annual wage | [A] | High | O*NET median wages (2025). |
| $28.24 | Median hourly wage | [A] | High | Median hourly equivalent on O*NET. |
| 299,500 employees | Employment level | [A] | High | Human machinist headcount, separate from robot counts. |
| 29,500 openings | Projected job openings (decade) | [A] | Medium | Openings over the decade, mostly replacement rather than growth. |
| Little or no change | Projected growth | [A] | Medium | Net employment outlook over the decade. |
Why the numbers disagree
Flat growth and 29,500 openings sound contradictory until you separate the two. Openings come mostly from replacement, workers retiring or leaving the trade, so a field can add almost no net jobs and still hire steadily. Read little or no change as the net, and the 29,500 as the churn.
The $58,750 median is a midpoint on O*NET's 2025 wage data, and O*NET and the BLS can show slightly different machinist wages because they present the same underlying survey on their own schedules. Cite whichever source you name, and do not splice a wage from one with an outlook from the other. A number is only as clean as the single source you can point back to.
This is a headcount of people, not machines. Robots increasingly tend the same lathes and mills, but they turn up in the IFR's installation data, not in this occupation line. Keep the human employment figure and any robot figure in separate columns.
How to cite these figures
Cite the pay as a $58,750 median, or $28.24 an hour, from O*NET, and name O*NET as the source, since its wage can differ slightly from the BLS. Naming the source is what lets a reader reconcile it with any BLS figure they already have.
Pair the flat growth with the 29,500 openings and explain that the openings are mostly replacement, which is why the two are consistent. Left unexplained, the pairing looks like a contradiction and invites a correction.
Watch the denominator: 299,500 is the human machinist headcount, so do not blend it with robot machine-tending counts from a robotics source. The two describe the same shop floor from different sides and do not add up to a single figure.
Where people go wrong
Reading 29,500 openings as job growth. Employment is projected flat, and the openings are mostly replacement hires for people who leave. Openings and net change are separate lines on O*NET, and conflating them overstates how much the field is expanding.
Mixing an O*NET wage with a BLS projection, or the reverse, as if the two were one dataset with one vintage.
Treating the machinist count as a measure of automation. It counts people, and robots that tend the same machines are counted in robotics data.
How we checked
We loaded the O*NET occupation summary for machinists, SOC 51-4041.00, and confirmed each figure in its text: the $58,750 median, the $28.24 hourly wage, 299,500 employees, the 29,500 projected openings, and the little or no change growth line. Each value is quoted the way O*NET prints it, so the display and the source string line up.
The wage and employment counts, which O*NET states directly for its 2025 vintage, rate High. The decade openings and the growth outlook rate Medium, because projections get revised and a flat outlook can tip either way.
We chose O*NET rather than the BLS handbook here because it carries this occupation cleanly through the citation path, and we held the human occupation strictly apart from robot install counts.
Full source list
Primary sources, with live links. Every figure above traces to one of these.
- [A]O*NET / U.S. Department of Labor2025
Machinists – O*NET Online 51-4041.00
https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/51-4041.00
Common questions
- What is a machinist's median wage?
- About $58,750 a year, or $28.24 an hour, on O*NET's 2025 wage data. Half of machinists earn more and half less.
- Is the field growing?
- O*NET projects little or no change in employment over the decade, though about 29,500 openings are expected, mostly to replace workers who retire or leave.
- Why are there openings if employment is flat?
- Because most openings come from replacement rather than growth. A stable occupation still needs to backfill people who leave, which is where the 29,500 come from.
- Does this count robots that tend machines?
- No. This is the human machinist occupation, about 299,500 people. Robots that tend the same lathes and mills are counted separately in robotics installation data.
More data, traced to source
- Welder pay and outlook: $51,000 median, 457,300 jobs, +2%
US welders, cutters, solderers, and brazers have a median wage of $51,000 and about 457,300 jobs, with employment projected to grow 2% over the BLS 10-year horizon, per the Occupational Outlook Handbook. These are the human occupation figures, so they are not a robot-displacement forecast.
- Plant machinery mechanics: $63,510 median, 538,300 jobs, +13%
Industrial machinery mechanics, maintenance workers, and millwrights earn a $63,510 median, hold 538,300 jobs, and are projected to grow 13%, much faster than average. The closest official wage line for robot-cell upkeep, traced to the BLS.
- Electro-mechanical technician pay and jobs: the BLS numbers
The BLS tracks electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians, the closest official occupation to a robotics maintenance tech. Median pay is about $70,760, with roughly 15,000 jobs and slow growth ahead.