Manufacturing Wages by Industry

Manufacturing pay by subsector, ranked

The table ranks private-sector manufacturing industries by 2024 average annual pay. Employment is the annual average, not a single month's headcount. Establishments are worksites, so one company with several plants can appear several times. Pay growth compares 2024 average annual pay with 2023.

Values link directly to the downloadable BLS file. To reproduce the table, filter area to the United States, ownership to private, and industry aggregation to three-digit North American Industry Classification System manufacturing codes.

Source: BLS QCEW 2024 annual singlefile. Filters: US000 area, private ownership code 5, annual data, three-digit NAICS manufacturing industries.

The highest-paying manufacturing industries

Computer and electronic product manufacturing averaged $153,352 in annual pay, the highest figure in this comparison. The subsector includes semiconductors, electronic instruments, computers, communications equipment, and related products. Its mix of engineers, software-adjacent roles, scientists, technicians, production workers, and corporate staff helps push the average well beyond factory-floor wages alone.

Petroleum and coal products ranked second at $141,329. It had only 110,253 jobs across 2,589 establishments, making it a small but highly paid part of manufacturing. Refineries and related operations combine capital-intensive equipment with demanding process-control, maintenance, engineering, and safety responsibilities.

Chemical manufacturing averaged $118,180 and employed 893,669 people. That broad category covers basic chemicals, resins, agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paints, soaps, and other products. The industry offers a much larger employment base than petroleum while remaining the only other three-digit manufacturing subsector above $100,000.

Transportation equipment placed fourth at $93,251. It was also one of the two largest employers in the table, with 1,770,605 jobs. Motor vehicles, aerospace products, ships, rail equipment, and their parts sit in this category. That breadth means a local wage can differ sharply from the national subsector average.

Where most manufacturing workers are employed

Pay rankings and job-volume rankings tell different stories. Transportation equipment led the 21 subsectors with 1,770,605 jobs, narrowly ahead of food manufacturing at 1,766,665 jobs. Fabricated metal products ranked third with 1,437,729 jobs.

Machinery manufacturing supported 1,106,882 jobs, while computer and electronic products employed 1,019,785 people. Together, those five industries accounted for a large share of the 12,733,350 private manufacturing jobs recorded by QCEW.

Food manufacturing is the clearest example of scale without top-tier average pay. Its $61,428 average ranked fourteenth, yet its workforce was almost as large as transportation equipment. Food plants operate in nearly every region, use a wide range of skill levels, and include both highly automated facilities and labor-intensive processing.

At the other end, leather and allied products had 25,292 jobs. Apparel had 82,256, and textile mills had 84,911. These figures measure domestic covered employment, not the size of U.S. consumer demand or overseas supply chains.

Industries with the fastest pay growth

Electrical equipment, appliance, and component manufacturing posted the largest increase, with average annual pay up 5.8%. Miscellaneous manufacturing followed at 5.7%, furniture and related products at 5.5%, and transportation equipment at 5.3%.

Computer and electronic products had the highest pay level but the slowest annual increase, just 0.5%. Petroleum and coal products grew 2.6%. A high wage does not guarantee fast wage growth in the next period.

QCEW pay growth is a change in the industry average, not a guaranteed raise for an individual. Hiring, layoffs, overtime, bonuses, and changes in the mix of occupations can move the average even when no continuing worker receives the reported percentage. Use role-level payroll records or matched-worker data to answer individual raise questions.

Why manufacturing wages vary so much by industry

Capital intensity and process risk

Refineries, chemical plants, semiconductor fabs, aircraft plants, and primary metal operations put expensive assets and complex processes in the hands of relatively specialized teams. Downtime, a quality escape, or a safety failure can be costly. Employers pay for the technical judgment needed to keep those processes stable.

Occupational mix

Average annual pay covers everyone employed by the establishment. It combines executives, engineers, sales staff, skilled trades, operators, assemblers, warehouse workers, and office employees. A subsector with more engineers and technical professionals can report a high average even when its production occupations pay much less.

Hours, overtime, and bonuses

Annual pay is not simply an hourly rate multiplied by 2,080. QCEW wages include bonuses, stock options, severance, commissions, and other cash compensation covered by unemployment insurance reporting. A year with heavy overtime or a large bonus cycle can lift the average.

Geography and company structure

A national industry figure blends low-cost rural plants, expensive metro areas, production sites, research facilities, and corporate offices. Company size and union coverage also vary. A shop should compare its roles with local occupational wages before setting a pay band.

How manufacturers can use the wage benchmarks

Start with the closest three-digit NAICS subsector, then move to a more detailed six-digit code if the local sample is large enough. A fabricated metal shop should not benchmark itself against all manufacturing when its real competitors for welders, machinists, estimators, and supervisors are nearby metalworking companies.

Recruiters can use the industry average as a reasonableness check, not as a job offer. Pair it with BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for the exact role, local labor market, and percentile. Add shift premiums, expected overtime, health coverage, retirement contributions, paid time off, and training when comparing total compensation.

Industrial suppliers and marketers can use employment and establishment counts to size a market. Fabricated metal products had 60,906 establishments, the most in this table. That creates a broad target universe, but average account size is smaller than in a concentrated sector such as petroleum products, which had 2,589 establishments.

Site selectors can use the national number as a baseline before examining state, metro, and county QCEW data. Labor cost is only one part of the decision. Skill availability, utilities, logistics, taxes, permitting, supplier depth, and employee turnover can outweigh a modest wage difference.

What QCEW measures

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages publishes employment and wage information for workers covered by state unemployment insurance laws and federal civilian workers covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees program. BLS reports that QCEW covers more than 95% of U.S. jobs.

For this report, annual average employment is the average of the 12 monthly employment levels. Annual average establishments are based on quarterly establishment counts. Total annual wages are summed across the four quarters, and average annual pay is total annual wages divided by annual average employment. The BLS QCEW handbook explains collection, coverage, estimation, disclosure, and revision procedures.

The public file uses area, ownership, industry, aggregation, and disclosure fields. Our filter selects US000, private ownership code 5, and three-digit manufacturing codes. Readers working directly with the file should consult the BLS data structure guide before aggregating rows. Summing overlapping aggregation levels will double count employment.

Manufacturing in the United States includes durable goods and nondurable goods producers. This annual estimate describes manufacturing employment and pay across that part of the economy, including workers in manufacturing production and nonproduction roles. It is a per year measure, not a July snapshot. Analysts building a decade-long comparison should download each annual vintage from BLS instead of mixing this table with monthly St. Louis Fed observations.

Comparing annual pay with hourly wages

Annual pay answers a different question from an hourly wage. A worker's hourly rate describes pay for one hour. Annual pay also reflects hours worked, overtime, shift differentials, bonuses, commissions, and staffing changes. Two plants can post the same base rate while producing different annual earnings because one runs steady overtime and the other shortens shifts.

That distinction matters in cyclical manufacturing. When orders rise, employers may add overtime before hiring another shift. Average annual pay can increase even if the base wage barely moves. When demand falls, reduced overtime can lower annual earnings without a wage cut. QCEW captures the cash result, but it does not separate those causes.

Engineers, managers, buyers, and office roles are usually discussed as annual salaries. Operators, machinists, assemblers, and maintenance employees are often discussed as hourly rates. QCEW puts both groups in one annual figure. That helps compare subsectors, but it is too broad for deciding whether an individual employee is underpaid.

For a compensation review, use three layers. Start with this subsector average to understand the industry. Check local occupation percentiles for the role. Finish with the employer's schedule, overtime, bonus, benefits, and turnover data. Together, those views are more useful than forcing one national average to answer every pay question.

Researchers who need average hourly earnings or weekly earnings should use the BLS Current Employment Statistics data series. CES publishes monthly economic data for manufacturing employees, including seasonally adjusted measures. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED manufacturing average hourly earnings series provides another interface for the same federal series and long-run economic analysis. Those monthly measures should not be substituted for the annual QCEW pay measure in this table.

What establishment counts say about each market

Establishment count shows how fragmented or concentrated an industry may be, although it does not identify company ownership. Fabricated metal products combined 60,906 establishments with 1,437,729 jobs. Food manufacturing had 42,010 establishments and 1,766,665 jobs, pointing to a larger average worksite.

Petroleum and coal products look different. The subsector had 2,589 establishments and 110,253 jobs. Primary metals had 6,026 establishments and 368,726 jobs. These are smaller target universes for suppliers, but each successful account may represent a larger operation with complex purchasing needs.

Printing and related support activities had 27,800 establishments supporting 355,998 jobs. Machinery had 34,323 establishments and 1,106,882 jobs. A sales team should not treat those markets as interchangeable. One may demand broad coverage of small accounts, while another rewards deeper work with fewer, larger prospects.

Do not divide national jobs by establishments and call the result a typical plant without a warning. The mean can be distorted by large factories, and an establishment can be an auxiliary office or other worksite rather than a production facility. Use establishment-size tables when headcount distribution matters.

Limits and interpretation

Average pay is not median salary. A small number of highly paid roles can pull an average upward. The measure also does not show wage percentiles, starting rates, or what a production worker takes home. BLS occupation data is better for those questions.

Benefits are excluded. Health insurance, retirement contributions, payroll taxes, paid leave, and other employer costs can add materially to compensation. The ranking should not be treated as a complete labor-cost table.

Industry classifications describe the primary activity of an establishment. A corporate office or research site can be classified differently from a production plant, and one multi-establishment company can span several codes. Classification changes can affect a time series.

The 2024 annual file was released by BLS in 2025. The page publication date is 2026, but the underlying reference year remains 2024. Federal annual data arrives with a lag, so users should keep the data year attached when quoting a figure.

Frequently asked questions

Which manufacturing industry pays the most?

Computer and electronic product manufacturing had the highest 2024 average annual pay at $153,352.

What was average U.S. manufacturing pay?

Private manufacturing averaged $85,461 in annual pay during 2024, across 12,733,350 jobs.

Which manufacturing industry employs the most people?

Transportation equipment manufacturing ranked first with 1,770,605 jobs, closely followed by food manufacturing with 1,766,665.

Does average annual pay include benefits?

No. QCEW wages include covered cash compensation such as salaries, bonuses, commissions, and stock options, but employer benefit costs are not included.

Can I use these figures to set an hourly wage?

Use them as an industry benchmark only. An hourly offer should be based on the occupation, location, experience level, shift, overtime expectations, and benefits.

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