Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
United States. Estimated employment 147,240, with pages for 6 metro areas below.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 53-7081
Fig. 1 — The wage rule
Where you sit in the distribution
Drag the marker, or type a figure
$49,690 · 50th
$33,59010th
$39,08025th
$49,69050th
$62,02075th
$75,90090th
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 Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors page, by median pay. Employment is the BLS estimate for the metro.
| Metro area | Median | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| New York, NY | $65,310 | 13,310 |
| Kiryas Joel, NY | $58,320 | 190 |
| Rochester, NY | $56,080 | 200 |
| Buffalo, NY | $52,340 | 320 |
| Syracuse, NY | $49,810 | 130 |
| Albany, NY | $49,580 | 150 |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Employment
- 147,240 employed in this occupation nationally (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
- Occupation
- SOC 53-7081, Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors. Mapped to our taxonomy as refuse-and-recyclable-material-collectors.
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.