Assembler Salary by State: 2026 BLS Wage Data Report

What Counts as an Assembler in This Data?

The occupational source is O*NET's Team Assemblers profile, SOC 51-2092.00. O*NET defines team assemblers as workers who assemble an entire product or component, rotate through tasks in the assembly process, and may help with team decisions. Reported job titles include assembler, assembly associate, assembly line worker, assembly operator, assembly technician, manufacturing associate, and production line worker.

That matters because an assembler salary by state report is not the same thing as a machinist wage report or a maintenance technician wage report. Assemblers often sit closer to direct production labor, final assembly, subassembly, kitting, packaging, component installation, and line work. Pay can still rise fast where the work touches aerospace, electronics, vehicles, medical devices, or other high-spec products.

For hiring teams, the table gives a clean baseline. It does not replace local market checks for shift premiums, attendance bonuses, overtime, union contracts, security clearance requirements, temp-to-hire markups, or plant-specific skills. It does give you a defensible starting point because the state wage rows link back to original O*NET CSV files tied to BLS wage data.

Assembler Salary by State Table

The table ranks states by median annual assembler pay. Annual low is the 10th percentile, annual high is the 90th percentile, and median hourly pay is the 50th percentile. Click any state to open the original O*NET local wage CSV for that state.

Highest-Paying States for Assemblers

High assembler wages tend to show up where plants compete with expensive local labor markets or specialized production clusters. In this dataset, Washington ranks first at $49,630. State pay can also reflect aircraft assembly, electronics, defense suppliers, shipbuilding, medical manufacturing, and unionized plants.

Lowest-Paying States for Assemblers

Lower median assembler pay does not mean a state is a poor manufacturing market. It often means the occupational mix has more labor-intensive assembly, lower-cost local labor, or a lower concentration of advanced products. For employers, these states may still be hard to staff if commute distances are long, turnover is high, or nearby warehouses compete for the same entry-level workforce.

Assembler Pay Compared With Other Manufacturing Jobs

Assembler wages usually sit below skilled trades and maintenance work, but above the lowest entry-level production jobs in many plants. The comparison below uses national O*NET local wage CSVs for common manufacturing roles. Each row links to its wage source.

At the national median, team assemblers earn $44,650. The role comparison shows why plants need different pay bands for assembly workers, CNC operators, welders, quality inspectors, machinists, and industrial machinery mechanics. A single shop-floor wage rate can create hiring problems because skill requirements, physical demands, training time, and replacement risk are not equal across those jobs.

How to Use This Data in Hiring and Sales Planning

If you're hiring assemblers, start with the state median, then build a plant-specific range around the work. Light assembly with stable first-shift hours may not need the same rate as electro-mechanical assembly, composite assembly, vehicle assembly, cleanroom work, soldering, blueprint reading, or regulated medical device production. The O*NET task list for Team Assemblers includes quality checks, work orders, rotating production tasks, equipment use, and production reporting, all of which can change the pay range once the job gets more technical.

For staffing firms and manufacturers, the 10th percentile and 90th percentile columns are useful guardrails. The national table shows a 10th percentile annual wage of $33,280 and a 90th percentile wage of $64,880. That means the top end is $31,600 above the lower end nationally. The spread is not just geography. It can reflect experience, product complexity, tenure, overtime access, and local plant competition.

For industrial marketers, assembler pay helps size labor-intensive markets. A state with high assembly wages may be a stronger target for automation equipment, fixtures, ergonomic tools, work instructions software, recruiting services, training programs, and quality systems. A lower-wage state may be more sensitive to turnover reduction, productivity gains, attendance management, and line-balancing improvements.

Regional Patterns in Assembler Wages

The state ranking shows how broad the assembly labor market can be. Hawaii leads non-DC states at $49,630, while Arkansas is the lowest non-DC state at $36,990. The average median across visible state rows is $44,365, which is close to the national median of $44,650, but local ranges still move a lot.

The top of the table is not just a cost-of-living story. Some high-wage states have expensive housing and transportation, but others have specific industrial clusters where assembly work requires tighter quality control, heavier documentation, product testing, regulated production, or more technical reading of work instructions. A medical device assembler, aerospace assembler, battery module assembler, or electronics assembler may sit inside the same broad occupational family while earning more than a basic packaging or general assembly role.

The 90th percentile column is especially useful when you are comparing experienced workers. A plant that needs lead assemblers, trainers, final inspectors, or workers who can rotate across multiple cells may need to compete nearer the upper quartile or 90th percentile. If the job posting asks for blueprint reading, hand tools, torque specs, electrical testing, or documentation under ISO or FDA controls, the state median will probably understate the real hiring rate.

The bottom of the table needs careful reading too. A lower state median can make a site look cheaper on paper, but the effective cost can change when turnover, temp agency markups, attendance issues, overtime, scrap, and supervisor time are included. For an assembly line, a lower base wage does not help if missed shifts force overtime or if training churn keeps the line below takt time.

Assembler Wage Benchmarks for Employers

Use the median as the middle of the market, not as the automatic offer rate. If you are hiring entry-level assemblers with paid training, the 10th percentile can help frame a floor. If you need proven assemblers who can hit rate quickly, float between the median and 75th percentile. If the role carries unusual quality risk, physical demands, shift requirements, or cross-training expectations, compare against the 90th percentile and nearby skilled roles.

For example, the national assembler median is $44,650, while the national 90th percentile is $64,880. That gap is a reminder that assembler pay bands should not be flat. The same plant may need one rate for new hires, another for certified line operators, and another for people who train others or cover multiple workstations.

Recruiters should also compare assembler wages with the warehouse and logistics market. Many assembly workers can move between plants, distribution centers, packaging lines, and fulfillment operations. If a nearby employer offers a similar hourly rate with cleaner schedules or less physical strain, the assembly job has to win on training, advancement, overtime, stability, benefits, or shift preference.

For manufacturers selling equipment or services, these wage benchmarks are a useful signal. Higher-wage assembly markets often have more pressure to justify automation, better fixtures, digital work instructions, vision inspection, torque tools, conveyors, and labor-saving process improvements. Lower-wage markets may still buy, but the pitch often needs to focus on throughput, quality, turnover, and schedule reliability instead of direct labor savings alone. The best use is not one national average. It is a state-by-state view paired with plant headcount, product mix, and the buyer's real labor constraint.

This analysis also helps job seekers, workforce boards, and any organization comparing assembler salaries across the United States. The average assembler salary can vary by city, metro area, industry, company, education requirements, career path, and the exact position on the line. Treat wage data as one part of the picture, then compare it with local job openings, overtime access, seniority rules, promotion ladders, and whether earnings increase after training. If you need an average salary figure for budgeting, use the state median here as the defensible midpoint and validate it with current postings.

Assembler Salary FAQs

Methodology

This report uses O*NET OnLine local wage tables for Team Assemblers, 51-2092.00. O*NET local wage tables cite wage estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. We pulled the state-level CSV for each state and Washington, DC, then ranked states by annual median wage.

The table reports median annual pay, median hourly pay, 10th percentile annual pay, and 90th percentile annual pay. State medians are occupational wage estimates, not guaranteed wages for any one plant. They do not include every benefit, bonus, overtime pattern, per diem arrangement, or staffing markup. The numbers are best used as wage benchmarks and market comparison data.

For more context on the occupation, use the O*NET Team Assemblers summary, the BLS OEWS Team Assemblers page, and the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook page for assemblers and fabricators.