Motion Picture Projectionists Salary and Pay
How much do Motion Picture Projectionists make?
Median pay for Motion Picture Projectionists is $38,180 a year ($18.35); the mean is $50,290. The occupation employed 1,950 people in May 2024, and its middle band runs from $29,250 to $75,380.
One page for the whole Motion Picture Projectionists pay distribution: national ladder first, then all 13 state rows and the metro rankings, every figure from BLS OEWS May 2024.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Every level in the picker is a published BLS figure for Motion Picture Projectionists, not a national average. Annual-to-hourly conversions divide by 2,080 hours, the survey's full-time year; top-coded levels use $239,200, the floor BLS prints, so the true figure is higher.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $24,160 | $11.62 |
| 25th percentile | $29,250 | $14.06 |
| Median (50th) | $38,180 | $18.35 |
| 75th percentile | $75,380 | $36.24 |
| 90th percentile | $82,040 | $39.44 |
Read the ladder vertically: each row is the wage of the Motion Picture Projectionists worker at that point in the distribution, so $75,380 at the 75th percentile means three quarters of the occupation earns less. Figures BLS cannot publish appear as n/p, and its top code prints as $239,200+.
Employment and concentration
May 2024 employment stood at 1,950, or 0.00% of the U.S. total. New York leads the state table with 420 jobs; the top three states sum to 37.4% of the occupation. The concentration measure tells the more interesting story: North Dakota posts a location quotient of 7.54, so a worker there is far more likely to meet a colleague in this field than the national pattern suggests.
One in ten workers in this field earns $24,160 or less, and one in ten earns $82,040 or more, so the top-to-bottom ratio is 3.4 to 1 and the annual gap is $57,880. The mean ($50,290) versus median ($38,180) comparison shows a right-skewed ladder where senior and specialist roles lift the average in this occupation.
Pay by state
Sorted by employment, the table below puts New York first at 420 jobs; sorted by median pay instead, California would lead at $87,870. Both orderings are printed in one table:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 420 | 0.0 | 3.50 | $68,140 | $76,970 |
| California | 190 | 0.0 | 0.85 | $87,880 | $87,870 |
| Missouri | 120 | 0.0 | 3.15 | $29,680 | $28,340 |
| Tennessee | 110 | 0.0 | 2.57 | $27,570 | $32,570 |
| Ohio | 100 | 0.0 | 1.42 | $34,410 | $32,970 |
| Texas | 90 | 0.0 | 0.49 | $31,410 | $29,770 |
| Washington | 80 | 0.0 | 1.78 | $41,970 | $36,780 |
| North Dakota | 40 | 0.1 | 7.54 | $30,350 | $29,550 |
| Idaho | 30 | 0.0 | 3.26 | $35,520 | $34,790 |
| Iowa | 30 | 0.0 | 1.52 | $25,440 | $28,640 |
| Wisconsin | 30 | 0.0 | 0.93 | $31,610 | $31,760 |
| Illinois | n/p | n/p | n/p | $73,370 | $75,380 |
| Michigan | n/p | n/p | n/p | $29,330 | $28,130 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Motion Picture Projectionists stands number 805 by employment and number 736 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Personal Care and Service Occupations, the group median wage is $37,320 across 32 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 2% more than its group median, and it supplies 0.1% of the group's 3,159,920 jobs. In 3 of the 13 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $38,180, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ is the largest metro employer with 350 jobs, 17.9% of the national total. Two rankings follow across the 3 metros BLS publishes for this occupation: where the jobs are, then where the money is, with the pay ranking restricted to metros employing at least 500 people in this occupation to keep small samples out of the lead.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 350 | $73,620 | $79,860 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 120 | $103,160 | $119,090 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | n/p | $70,440 | $81,490 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
The median annual wage of $38,180 works out to $3,182 a month before taxes, $1,468 per biweekly paycheck, and $734 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($29,250) to the 75th ($75,380) is worth $46,130 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. Run the median through the paycheck calculator for a take-home estimate in your state, compare an offer against your current pay with the salary calculator, and check whether a raise actually beats prices with the raise vs inflation calculator.
To place a real offer: a salary of $41,998 would sit between the median ($38,180) and the 75th percentile ($75,380), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $29,250, is $8,930 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Personal Care and Service Occupations
The occupations BLS groups with this one, by size: Recreation Workers, Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors, Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists, Animal Caretakers, Manicurists and Pedicurists, Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers. Every one of the 826 published occupations is indexed on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Motion Picture Projectionists make an hour?
The median hourly wage is $18.35, and the mean hourly wage is $24.18, from the May 2024 OEWS estimates. Annual figures for Motion Picture Projectionists use the survey's 2,080-hour year where a conversion is needed, which is how the $38,180 annual median and the hourly figures reconcile.
Which state pays Motion Picture Projectionists the most?
California, with a median annual wage of $87,870 across 190 jobs. The full state table on this page ranks every publishing state by employment and shows median and mean side by side.
How big is the Motion Picture Projectionists workforce?
1,950 wage and salary workers in May 2024, 0.00% of U.S. employment in the survey. Employment concentrates most in North Dakota by location quotient (7.54).
How current is this Motion Picture Projectionists salary data?
These are the May 2024 OEWS estimates behind the $38,180 median and the 1,950 job count on this page, released by BLS on April 2, 2025 and downloaded on November 5, 2026. OEWS is an employer survey, so those figures describe wages actually paid in this occupation, not advertised ranges.