- Only 1 state pays machinists more at the median.
- Alaska pays more than both nearby states it is compared with.
- BLS counts about 120 machinists on payrolls in Alaska.
- At the state median wage, a machine shop needs to bill about $136.16 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Machinist pay in Alaska, bottom to top
The BLS machinist group covers people who set up and run machine tools such as lathes, mills and grinders to make precision metal parts. Tool and die makers and CNC programmers are counted separately.
| Pay level | Hourly | Yearly | National hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $24.47 | $50,900 | $18.85 |
| 25th percentile | $30.46 | $63,360 | $22.87 |
| Median | $37.34 | $77,670 | $28.24 |
| 75th percentile | $46.46 | $96,640 | $32.55 |
| 90th percentile | $50.74 | $105,540 | $38.47 |
| Average (mean) | $39.02 | $81,160 | $28.52 |
From the bottom tenth ($24.47) to the top tenth ($50.74), the top of the scale pays about 2.1 times the bottom in Alaska, close to the 2 times spread for machinists nationwide.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $24.47 against $18.85 at the bottom tenth, and $50.74 against $38.47 at the top.
The average, $39.02, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Alaska compares with other states
Over a full year, the Alaska median of $77,670 is $18,920 more than the national $58,750.
In the state ranking, Alaska sits 2nd, between Hawaii ($40.58) and the District of Columbia ($35.05). The range runs from $22.77 in West Virginia to $40.58 in Hawaii.
Alaska has no land border, so it is set here against Washington and Oregon. Alaska pays more than both.
These are wages as paid, not adjusted for what it costs to live in Alaska. Rent, home prices and taxes decide how far a higher wage goes.
Every state ranked, with the national pay range: national machinist salary by state.
| Nearby state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Alaska |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | $37.34 | $77,670 | |
| Washington | $31.81 | $66,160 | −$5.53 an hour |
| Oregon | $30.68 | $63,820 | −$6.66 an hour |
How many machinists work in Alaska
Alaska has one of the smaller workforces in the trade: 120 machinists on payrolls, under 0.1% of the 287,050 nationwide.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 0.4 per 1,000 jobs, 0.20 times the national share.
What a machine shop in Alaska should charge
Higher wages in Alaska go straight into the price. Take a machine shop in Alaska paying the state median of $37.34 and run it through the labor rate calculator with its starting numbers (40-hour weeks, 10 paid days off, 2 unbilled hours a day, 7.65% payroll taxes, $90,000 a year of overhead and 15% profit).
| Step | Math | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Paid hours | 40 × 52 | 2,080 |
| Hours at work | 2,080 − 10 days × 8 | 2,000 |
| Billable hours | 2,000 × 6 ÷ 8 | 1,500 |
| Labor cost | $37.34 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $83,609 |
| Break-even rate | ($83,609 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $115.74 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $115.74 ÷ 0.85 | $136.16 |
That is $136.16 per billable hour, 3.6 times the wage, and $15.98 more than the $120.18 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $46.46 in Alaska, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $152.18.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $30.46, the rate only drops to $124.08.
Overhead, at $60 of every billed hour, and the unbilled hours move this rate more than a raise does. A dollar more in wages adds about $1.76 to the rate.
Run it with your own numbers in the labor rate calculator. It is free and shows every step.
Where these numbers come from
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
The figures are the BLS state estimates for SOC 51-4041, machinists, across all industries, read straight from the May 2025 state data file. They cover wage and salary workers, not the self-employed. Where BLS did not publish a figure, this page leaves it out.
All states in one table: machinist salary by state.