Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
What the pay figures show
- Washington pays this job the most, at $107,920. Unusually, it stays on top. Tax does not overturn it. Nor do local prices — it is still first at $78,068 once levelled out. That is rarer than it sounds. For most jobs the leader changes.
- Washington leads for computer numerically controlled tool operators at $107,920 and retains the position through both adjustments, finishing first at $78,068 in price-deflated terms. That robustness is the minority case: across the largest occupations, state income tax reorders the leader roughly a third of the time and price level does so more often still. Where the nominal leader survives both, the wage premium is large enough to absorb the state's own tax and price levels.
Compare this career across states
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Pay by state · May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
National median
$50,690
People doing it
169,450
Highest paid
$107,920
WA
Best off, really
$78,068
WA, after tax and prices
Lowest tenth
$38,140
Highest tenth
$73,890
Lowest, really
$36,529
MD
States with data
48
National average
$54,320
mean, not median
Prices where it goes furthest
108.56%
WA, against a national 100
Where this job actually pays best
- Where you do this job matters enormously. The best state pays roughly twice what the worst does. Prices alone cannot explain a gap that size. Level everything out and the range still runs $36,529 to $78,068.
- 169,450 people do this job across the country, and the middle one earns $50,690. Common work, though not one of the giants.
- This job is not published everywhere — 48 jurisdictions have a figure, with $50,690 in the middle. Where one is missing, it was never released. Washington tops the ones that are.
- Geographic dispersion in computer numerically controlled tool operators is unusually wide: the top state's median is approximately double the bottom's, a spread that price differentials cannot account for. The real-terms range, after tax and price deflation, still runs $36,529 to $78,068 — so the variation reflects genuine differences in local labor markets rather than a nominal illusion.
- National employment in computer numerically controlled tool operators is 169,450 — a substantial occupation, though an order of magnitude below the largest. Regional differentials here move real aggregate sums without dominating any single state's wage bill.
- 48 jurisdictions carry a published median for computer numerically controlled tool operators. ⚠️ Suppression is not random: it correlates with small state-level samples, so the reported set skews toward larger employers of this occupation.
Pay band: Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
The national median for this job
50thpercentile, roughly
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,890 |
| This salary | $50,690 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
Where these numbers come from
| BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, time-series bulk download (oe.data.0.Current) | as of 2025-05-01 |
|---|
Steps in Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
The national median for this job
$50,690around the 50th percentile
| Lowest tenth | $38,140 |
|---|---|
| Middle | $50,690 |
| Top tenth | $73,890 |
The five points BLS publishes. Nothing between them is invented.
Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators, state by state
The national median for this job
48states publish pay for this job
| Lowest | Mississippi · $39,520 |
|---|---|
| Highest | Washington · $107,920 |
| Spread | $68,400 |
One dot per state that publishes this job. A missing state means suppressed data, not zero pay.
Best paid, and best off
The national median for this job
| Texas pays | $48,480 |
|---|---|
| Worth, after local prices | $49,889 |
Median pay against the same pay once BEA price parities are applied.
Every state, three ways
Sorted by what the money is actually worth. "Kept" is take-home for a single filer after federal, FICA and state income tax. "Really worth" divides that by the state's own price level, so a dollar in each row buys the same thing. Tap a state to put your own salary into it. States BLS does not publish for this job are absent — that means no published figure, not no work.
| State | Median pay | Kept after tax | Really worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| WA | $107,920 | $84,752 | $78,068 |
| ND | $60,250 | $50,591 | $57,118 |
| WY | $54,170 | $45,706 | $50,310 |
| ME | $59,660 | $47,410 | $48,827 |
| SD | $50,750 | $42,958 | $48,763 |
| VT | $57,500 | $46,697 | $48,323 |
| IA | $52,300 | $42,827 | $48,247 |
| NH | $59,730 | $50,173 | $47,627 |
| AR | $50,280 | $41,178 | $47,600 |
| ID | $53,340 | $43,065 | $47,104 |
| MT | $51,880 | $42,184 | $46,744 |
| AL | $52,380 | $42,019 | $46,703 |
| LA | $49,800 | $41,087 | $46,507 |
| MN | $56,780 | $45,465 | $46,196 |
| CT | $59,840 | $47,720 | $46,022 |
| WI | $52,690 | $42,772 | $45,944 |
| RI | $57,390 | $46,561 | $45,912 |
| SC | $51,800 | $42,683 | $45,808 |
| TN | $49,980 | $42,339 | $45,764 |
| PA | $54,590 | $44,367 | $45,505 |
| MO | $51,000 | $41,699 | $45,442 |
| WV | $49,630 | $40,629 | $45,258 |
| MA | $61,630 | $48,938 | $45,214 |
| OH | $49,160 | $41,045 | $44,705 |
| NE | $49,360 | $40,298 | $44,590 |
| KY | $49,180 | $40,092 | $44,317 |
| CO | $55,270 | $44,866 | $44,254 |
| OK | $47,760 | $38,906 | $44,069 |
| NC | $50,440 | $41,205 | $43,770 |
| IN | $48,590 | $39,818 | $43,194 |
| KS | $48,400 | $38,657 | $42,969 |
| TX | $48,480 | $41,134 | $42,329 |
| OR | $56,670 | $43,306 | $41,354 |
| NM | $44,970 | $37,347 | $41,319 |
| NV | $46,670 | $39,679 | $40,915 |
| CA | $56,510 | $46,003 | $40,862 |
| MI | $47,250 | $38,388 | $40,759 |
| NJ | $54,100 | $44,208 | $40,601 |
| DE | $50,010 | $40,154 | $40,457 |
| AZ | $48,950 | $40,690 | $40,245 |
| GA | $47,630 | $38,673 | $39,993 |
| NY | $53,340 | $42,755 | $39,726 |
| VA | $49,590 | $39,935 | $39,638 |
| IL | $48,420 | $38,833 | $39,283 |
| UT | $45,140 | $36,441 | $38,358 |
| FL | $46,170 | $39,278 | $37,967 |
| MS | $39,520 | $32,446 | $37,169 |
| MD | $46,870 | $37,977 | $36,529 |
Sources and assumptions
- These are middle-of-the-range figures for this job, not what a new starter is offered. Half the people doing this job earn under $50,690 nationally, half over. Your own experience and employer will move you well away from that midpoint in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, nothing paid into a pension before tax — that is the household behind every take-home figure for this job. It is the simplest case on purpose, so the states can be compared against each other rather than against each other's family circumstances. City income taxes are not counted. On that household, Washington keeps the most at $84,752.
- One price figure per state stands behind the real-terms numbers for this job. Inside any state, a big city costs far more than a small town, so this is a fair way to compare states with each other and a poor way to price a specific move. The wage figures and the price figures are also from different years. At the bottom of the range sits Maryland, on $36,529.
- All wage figures for computer numerically controlled tool operators are medians rather than entry or offer rates; the national median is $50,690. Within-state dispersion typically exceeds between-state dispersion in this data, so an individual's expected wage is determined more by experience, sector and employer than by the state comparisons presented here.
- The household modeled for computer numerically controlled tool operators is a single filer, standard deduction, no dependants, no pre-tax contributions. Holding the household constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful; it also means the absolute figures overstate liability for most real filers. On that basis Washington retains the most, $84,752. Municipal and school-district income taxes are not included in any state.
- Real-terms results for computer numerically controlled tool operators rest on statewide regional price parities, which average over intra-state variation that is itself larger than much of the interstate variation. They support comparison between states and not the pricing of an individual relocation; Maryland anchors the distribution at $36,529. Wage and price series are published on separate cycles and therefore carry different reference periods.