- California ranks 37th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- California pays more than 1 of its 3 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 18,950 machinists on payrolls in California.
- At the state median wage, a machine shop needs to bill about $118.87 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Machinist pay in California, 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 | $18.00 | $37,440 | $18.85 |
| 25th percentile | $22.29 | $46,360 | $22.87 |
| Median | $27.49 | $57,190 | $28.24 |
| 75th percentile | $35.68 | $74,210 | $32.55 |
| 90th percentile | $42.44 | $88,280 | $38.47 |
| Average (mean) | $29.51 | $61,380 | $28.52 |
Pay spreads out a lot in California. The bottom tenth earn $18.00 an hour or less while the top tenth earn $42.44 or more, a gap of 2.4 times against 2 nationally. Where a machinist sits on that range matters as much as the state.
The bottom of the scale is lower than nationally ($18.00 against $18.85) while the top is higher ($42.44 against $38.47), so the climb from new hire to top earner is longer here.
The average wage, $29.51, sits 7% above the median. A smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up, so the median is the better guide to what a typical machinist makes.
How California compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $57,190 in California against $58,750 nationally, $1,560 less.
In the state ranking, California sits 37th, between Iowa ($27.66) and Florida ($27.47). The range runs from $22.77 in West Virginia to $40.58 in Hawaii.
Against its neighboring states, California is in the middle: Arizona and Oregon pay more, and Nevada pays less.
Every state ranked, with the national pay range: national machinist salary by state.
How many machinists work in California
BLS estimates 18,950 machinists on payrolls in California, 6.6% of the 287,050 nationwide. Only 2 states have more.
It is a smaller part of local jobs than in most of the country, at 1.0 per 1,000 jobs, 0.56 times the national share.
What a machine shop in California should charge
Say you run a machine shop in California and pay the state median of $27.49 an hour. Here is the labor rate calculator's math on 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 | $27.49 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $61,553 |
| Break-even rate | ($61,553 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $101.04 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $101.04 ÷ 0.85 | $118.87 |
That is $118.87 per billable hour, 4.3 times the wage, and $1.32 less than the $120.18 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $35.68 in California, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $133.25.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $22.29, the rate only drops to $109.73.
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.