- Minnesota ranks 16th of the 50 states and DC for median pay in this trade.
- Minnesota pays more than 3 of its 4 neighboring states.
- BLS counts about 12,500 machinists on payrolls in Minnesota.
- At the state median wage, a machine shop needs to bill about $122.20 an hour on the labor rate calculator's starting numbers.
Machinist pay in Minnesota, 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 | $22.38 | $46,550 | $18.85 |
| 25th percentile | $24.19 | $50,320 | $22.87 |
| Median | $29.39 | $61,140 | $28.24 |
| 75th percentile | $35.89 | $74,650 | $32.55 |
| 90th percentile | $38.64 | $80,380 | $38.47 |
| Average (mean) | $29.96 | $62,310 | $28.52 |
Pay is bunched up in Minnesota. The top tenth earn $38.64 an hour or more, about 1.7 times the $22.38 at the bottom tenth. Nationally that gap is 2 times, so the step from the bottom of the scale to the top is shorter here than in most places.
Both ends of the scale beat the national figures: $22.38 against $18.85 at the bottom tenth, and $38.64 against $38.47 at the top.
The average, $29.96, is close to the median, so pay sits fairly evenly around the middle.
How Minnesota compares with other states
Over a full year the gap to the national median is small: $61,140 in Minnesota against $58,750 nationally, $2,390 more.
In the state ranking, Minnesota sits 16th, between Utah ($29.46) and Louisiana ($29.38). The range runs from $22.77 in West Virginia to $40.58 in Hawaii.
Against its neighboring states, Minnesota is in the middle: North Dakota pays more, and Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin pay less.
Every state ranked, with the national pay range: national machinist salary by state.
| Neighboring state | Median hourly | Median yearly | Against Minnesota |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | $29.39 | $61,140 | |
| Iowa | $27.66 | $57,540 | −$1.73 an hour |
| North Dakota | $29.72 | $61,820 | +$0.33 an hour |
| South Dakota | $24.47 | $50,890 | −$4.92 an hour |
| Wisconsin | $28.42 | $59,110 | −$0.97 an hour |
How many machinists work in Minnesota
About 12,500 machinists work on payrolls in Minnesota, 4.4% of the 287,050 nationwide, the 8th largest count among the states.
The trade is a bigger part of the local job market than it is nationally: 4.2 of every 1,000 jobs in Minnesota, 2.3 times the national share.
What a machine shop in Minnesota should charge
Say you run a machine shop in Minnesota and pay the state median of $29.39 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 | $29.39 × 2,080 × 1.0765 | $65,808 |
| Break-even rate | ($65,808 + $90,000) ÷ 1,500 | $103.87 |
| Rate with 15% profit | $103.87 ÷ 0.85 | $122.20 |
That is $122.20 per billable hour, 4.2 times the wage, and $2.02 more than the $120.18 the same math gives at the national median wage.
Paying the 75th percentile instead, $35.89 in Minnesota, to hire and keep experienced people raises the rate to $133.62.
A cheaper crew saves less than it seems: at the 25th percentile wage of $24.19, the rate only drops to $113.07.
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.