How much do assemblers make in 2026?
Assemblers are counted in the BLS miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators series: OEWS May 2025 gives the SOC 51-2090 national median as $44,650 a year ($21.47 an hour), with the bottom 10% near $33,280 and the top 10% at $64,880. This is a large occupation with a comparatively narrow band, which tells you something important: assembly pay is set mostly by industry and shift rather than by individual skill progression. Industry is the biggest lever. Aerospace, medical device, semiconductor equipment and defence assembly pay well above consumer goods and light manufacturing, because the work involves documented processes, traceability, cleanroom or electrostatic discipline and inspection requirements that take time to learn and cannot be rushed. Shift differential is the second: night and weekend shifts commonly add a premium, and in continuous-operation plants that differential is a meaningful part of annual pay. Overtime is the third, and in busy plants it can add substantially to the wage figure. The honest part of the picture is that employment in this occupation is projected to decline slightly, as routine repetitive assembly is the work most exposed to automation. The assembly that has held up is the kind requiring dexterity, judgement and adaptation across variants — which is also the better paid kind. Employment is projected to change by -0.1% through 2034 with roughly 156,300 openings a year. → Full assembler career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $44,650 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Assemblers earn a national median $44,650/yr ($21.47/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 51-2090); the P10 to P90 range is $33,280 to $64,880.
- Industry is the biggest pay lever: aerospace, medical device, semiconductor and defence assembly pay well above consumer goods and light manufacturing within the $33,280 to $64,880 band.
- Shift differential and overtime are substantial parts of real annual earnings and sit on top of the base hourly rate.
- Employment is projected to decline slightly — routine repetitive assembly is the most automation-exposed work, while dexterity- and judgement-heavy assembly has held up.
US Assembler Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do assemblers earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 51-2090; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 51-2090, United States national estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does an assembler earn at each career stage?
Assembly pay follows industry, shift and process complexity more than tenure. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 51-2090.
By State
Which states pay assemblers the most in 2026?
State figures are modeled estimates — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers salary-calculator state wage index — not BLS state observations. In assembly the industry mix of a state matters more than its wage index: a state with aerospace and medical device plants pays assemblers well above one with light consumer manufacturing.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($51,350), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay assemblers the most?
Metro figures are modeled — national median times state wage index times published metro index — not BLS MSA observations. Manufacturing employment is frequently located outside metro cores in industrial parks and smaller cities, so metro premiums understate where the jobs actually are.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise an assembler’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does assembler pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Assemblers sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify assembler wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does an assembler actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Assembler Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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