Robotics workforce
What a robotics technician actually earns, and why the wage is hard to find
Search for a robotics technician salary and you will get a dozen different numbers, because the U.S. government does not publish one under that name. The Bureau of Labor Statistics folds robotics technicians into a broader occupation called Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians.
Under that category, the median wage for 2025 is $73,900 a year, or $35.53 an hour. That is the defensible figure, and almost no one cites it correctly, because you have to know which occupation code to look under.
This page traces the wage, the employment count, and the job outlook to the government data behind them, and explains why the specific title you searched for does not have its own number.
Data covers 2025 wage data and 2024 to 2034 projections (BLS, via O*NET). Last reviewed by a human editor before publication.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $73,900 / year | Median annual wage (2025) | [A] | High | The median annual wage for the occupation that contains robotics technicians. This is the figure to cite, with the occupation named. |
| $35.53 / hour | Median hourly wage (2025) | [A] | High | The same median expressed hourly. Same BLS data. |
| 15,000 employed | Employment (2024) | [A] | Medium | Employment in the occupation as of 2024. Small, which is part of why the wage is easy to misquote. |
| 1,300 / year | Projected annual openings | [A] | Medium | Projected average annual job openings over 2024 to 2034. |
| 1% to 2% | Projected growth (2024-2034) | [A] | Medium | Projected employment growth, which the source labels slower than average. A counterpoint to the story of robotics as an exploding job category. |
Why the numbers disagree
The salary numbers you find online disagree because they are pulled from different occupations. Robotics technician is a detailed O*NET title (code 17-3024.01), but the wage data is only published at the level of its parent occupation, Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians (17-3024). Job boards and salary sites each pick a different proxy, so each shows a different number.
The government figure describes the whole parent category, which includes mechatronics and electro-mechanical technicians who never touch a robot. So the $73,900 median is the best-sourced number available, but it is a category median, not a robotics-only median. A robotics-only wage is not something the government measures.
The employment count is small, about 15,000 in the parent occupation, and the projected growth is slower than average at 1 to 2 percent. That sits awkwardly against the popular story of robotics as a booming job category, and it is worth knowing before you quote a growth figure.
How to cite these figures
Cite the wage as the median for Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians, $73,900 a year in 2025, and say that robotics technicians sit inside that category. Naming the occupation is what keeps the figure defensible.
Use the hourly figure, $35.53, when you need a wage rate rather than an annual salary. It is the same BLS data.
If someone quotes a much higher robotics-technician salary, ask which occupation code it comes from. Numbers well above the category median usually come from senior engineering titles, not technician roles.
Where people go wrong
Treating a job-board average as the authoritative figure. Those sites use self-reported data and different occupation mixes. The government category median is the traceable number.
Assuming robotics technician is its own measured occupation. It is a detailed title with no separate wage line; the wage is reported one level up.
Quoting fast growth for the role. The parent occupation is projected to grow slower than average, 1 to 2 percent over the decade.
How we checked
Every figure traces to the O*NET OnLine summary for Robotics Technicians (17-3024.01), which republishes Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data and 2024 to 2034 employment projections. We fetched the O*NET page and confirmed each figure appears in its text.
We cite O*NET rather than the BLS page directly for a practical reason: the BLS occupational pages block automated verification, while O*NET serves the same BLS figures in a form our citation check can fetch and confirm. The numbers are BLS data either way.
We did not find a government wage figure specific to robotics technicians, because none exists. Where the data stops at the parent occupation, we say so rather than inventing a robotics-only number.
Full source list
Primary sources, with live links. Every figure above traces to one of these.
- [A]O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor)Accessed July 14, 2026 (BLS 2025 wage data)
O*NET OnLine, "17-3024.01 Robotics Technicians" occupation summary, carrying Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 wage data and 2024-2034 employment projections
https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-3024.01
Common questions
- How much does a robotics technician make?
- The median wage for the occupation that contains robotics technicians is $73,900 a year, or $35.53 an hour, in 2025 government data. There is no separate robotics-only wage line, so this category median is the defensible figure.
- Why is it hard to find a robotics technician salary?
- Because the U.S. government does not publish one under that title. Robotics technicians are folded into Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians, and the wage is reported for that whole category.
- Is robotics technician a fast-growing job?
- Not according to the projections. The category is expected to grow 1 to 2 percent from 2024 to 2034, which the government labels slower than average, with about 1,300 openings a year.
- Is $73,900 the robotics-only wage?
- No. It is the median for the broader category that also includes mechatronics and electro-mechanical technicians. A robotics-only median is not measured, so this is the closest defensible figure.
More data, traced to source
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