Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders Salary and Pay
How much do Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders make?
The median Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders worker earns $38,160 a year ($18.35), and the mean annual wage is $37,230. BLS counted 3,270 people in this occupation in May 2024. The middle half of earners make between $30,450 and $43,390.
One page for the whole Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders pay distribution: national ladder first, then all 6 state rows and the metro rankings, every figure from BLS OEWS May 2024.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Gross pay only, before taxes and benefits. The picker starts at this occupation's median ($38,160); the custom box accepts any annual figure, which is how you price an offer letter against the ladder below.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $24,160 | $11.61 |
| 25th percentile | $30,450 | $14.64 |
| Median (50th) | $38,160 | $18.35 |
| 75th percentile | $43,390 | $20.86 |
| 90th percentile | $47,860 | $23.01 |
A percentile marks a point in this occupation's pay distribution: the worker one quarter of the way up the Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders ladder earns the 25th percentile wage, $30,450. BLS top-codes very high wages ($239,200+ a year, $115.00+ an hour) and marks estimates it cannot publish as n/p.
Employment and concentration
With 3,270 jobs nationally, Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders make up 0.00% of U.S. employment as BLS measured it in May 2024. The map is uneven: Maine alone holds 580 of those jobs, the top three states hold 43.1%, and the deepest concentration sits in Maine (location quotient 42.74, where 1.00 is the national average). A quotient above 2 usually signals a local industry cluster rather than evenly spread demand.
Pay inside the occupation is wide: $23,700 separates the ends of its ladder. The 90th percentile ($47,860) is 2.0 times the 10th percentile ($24,160), a gap of $23,700 a year. The mean of $37,230 sitting near the median of $38,160 tells you the top end pulls the average up: most workers cluster below the mean, and the high tail is thin.
Pay by state
The state spread for Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders runs from the $46,290 median in New York down through every other publishing state. Employment concentrates in Maine (580 jobs). The complete table:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | 580 | 0.9 | 42.74 | $43,120 | $39,830 |
| Texas | 510 | 0.0 | 1.72 | $25,450 | $24,160 |
| Minnesota | 320 | 0.1 | 5.16 | $40,300 | $38,420 |
| Wisconsin | 90 | 0.0 | 1.39 | $39,740 | $40,780 |
| California | 60 | 0.0 | 0.16 | $49,310 | $46,240 |
| New York | 60 | 0.0 | 0.29 | $43,370 | $46,290 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders stands number 783 by employment and number 737 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Production Occupations, the group median wage is $46,020 across 105 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 17% less than its group median, and it supplies 0.0% of the group's 8,743,430 jobs. In 5 of the 6 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $38,160, 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
El Paso, TX is the largest metro employer with 170 jobs, 5.2% of the national total. Employment rank and pay rank are different lists: the second table re-sorts metros with at least 500 jobs in this occupation by mean pay, the floor keeping a handful of workers from posing as a market.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Paso, TX | 170 | $23,520 | $22,320 |
| Lewiston-Auburn, ME | 90 | $41,460 | $39,830 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 70 | $46,330 | $46,860 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 50 | $48,980 | $45,670 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
Budget arithmetic on the median: $3,180 a month before tax, $1,468 biweekly, $734 weekly. Moving from the 25th percentile ($30,450) to the 75th ($43,390) is worth $12,940 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. To turn any of these gross figures into spendable money, run them through the paycheck calculator; to weigh an offer against your current role, use the salary calculator; to test a raise against prices, the raise vs inflation calculator.
To place a real offer: a salary of $41,976 would sit between the median ($38,160) and the 75th percentile ($43,390), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $30,450, is $7,710 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Production Occupations
Compare the ladder above with the closest relatives in the survey: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing, Food Processing Workers, All Other, Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Tool and Die Makers, Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters. The Careers hub carries the whole branch, group by group.
Frequently asked questions
What is the median salary for Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders?
$38,160 a year ($18.35), the middle wage among 3,270 counted workers in the BLS May 2024 estimates. The 75th percentile is $43,390 and the 90th is $47,860.
Where are Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders jobs concentrated?
By headcount, Maine leads with 580 jobs; by concentration, Maine leads with a location quotient of 42.74, meaning the occupation is 42.74 times as dense there as nationally.
What do the top 10% of Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders earn?
$47,860 a year or more. The gap between the 90th percentile and the median ($38,160) is the size of the senior and specialist premium in this occupation.
How does EveryCalc get Shoe Machine Operators and Tenders pay data?
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS bulk files for May 2024 (national, state, and metropolitan), downloaded November 5, 2026. Nothing on this page is self-reported by workers or scraped from job postings.