Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers

United States. Estimated employment 597,370, with pages for 43 metro areas below.

Data released May 2025 BLS OEWS · SOC 51-9061

Fig. 1 — The wage rule

Where you sit in the distribution

Drag the marker, or type a figure

$48,570 · 50th

$35,51010th

$39,89025th

$48,57050th

$61,44075th

$77,86090th

That is the median — half of people in this occupation in the US earn more.

Table 1 — By metro area

Where it pays

Every published Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers page, by median pay. Employment is the BLS estimate for the metro.

Metro area	Median	Employment
Hanford, CA	$62,480	170
Albany, NY	$62,470	1,410
San Francisco, CA	$62,340	6,860
San Jose, CA	$60,610	5,080
San Diego, CA	$59,550	5,950
Muskegon, MI	$58,850	740
San Luis Obispo, CA	$57,840	260
Decatur, IL	$57,700	420
Santa Maria, CA	$56,890	570
Peoria, IL	$56,770	950
Vallejo, CA	$55,700	570
Elmira, NY	$55,380	240
Sacramento, CA	$54,450	1,980
Amarillo, TX	$53,970	680
Los Angeles, CA	$51,560	22,610
Beaumont, TX	$51,430	1,030
Glens Falls, NY	$50,780	190
New York, NY	$50,160	16,370
Kiryas Joel, NY	$49,500	620
Texarkana, TX	$49,070	380
Kankakee, IL	$48,880	260
Utica, NY	$48,810	480
Syracuse, NY	$48,760	1,300
Battle Creek, MI	$48,440	360
Springfield, IL	$48,410	180
Austin, TX	$48,260	4,100
Wichita Falls, TX	$48,250	270
Chicago, IL	$48,230	23,080
Corpus Christi, TX	$48,210	660
Abilene, TX	$48,050	240
Lansing, MI	$47,880	770
Saginaw, MI	$47,780	350
Midland, TX	$47,590	720
Kalamazoo, MI	$47,440	880
Champaign, IL	$47,050	490
Bloomington, IL	$46,690	150
Houston, TX	$46,630	16,520
Rockford, IL	$46,240	1,180
Dallas, TX	$46,210	16,440
Ann Arbor, MI	$46,060	800
Bay City, MI	$45,910	120
Jackson, MI	$45,460	500
Detroit, MI	$45,400	10,610

Sources

How this page was made

Wage data: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
Employment: 597,370 employed in this occupation nationally (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
Occupation: SOC 51-9061, Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers. Mapped to our taxonomy as inspectors-testers-sorters-samplers-and-weighers.

Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.

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