Manufacturing Technician Hourly Pay & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 3,947 US job postings by 1,367 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for manufacturing technicians: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 3,947 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for manufacturing technicians in US job postings is $25.00 an hour (1,011 postings from 402 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $21.50 to $30.00 an hour.
- Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $23.75 an hour (278 postings).
- The skills that most set manufacturing technician postings apart are mechanical aptitude, attention to detail, hand tools.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 2 years of experience.
Manufacturing Technician job postings in the US, October 2026
- $25.00/hr
- Median advertised pay (1,011 postings)
- $21.50–$30.00
- Middle 50% of postings
- $23.75/hr
- Starting pay (postings asking up to 1 year)
- 3,947
- US job postings from 1,367 employers
How much does a manufacturing technician make an hour?
The median advertised pay is $25.00 an hour, from 1,011 US job postings by 402 employers that state pay. That is about $54,000 a year at 2,080 hours.
Advertised pay in 1,011 US manufacturing technician job postings: median $54,000 a year ($25.00 an hour), middle half $46,000 to $66,000.
- Median: $54,000 ($25.00/hr)
- 25th percentile: $46,000
- 75th percentile: $66,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $20K–$30K | 0.3% |
| $30K–$40K | 8.4% |
| $40K–$50K | 31.8% |
| $50K–$60K | 22.6% |
| $60K–$70K | 18.0% |
| $70K–$80K | 10.5% |
| $80K–$90K | 4.5% |
| $90K–$100K | 1.4% |
| $100K–$110K | 1.1% |
| $110K–$120K | 0.2% |
| $120K–$130K | 0.4% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an hourly rate | $25.00 | $21.50–$30.00 | 791 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $54,000 | $46K–$66K | 1,011 |
What is the starting salary for a manufacturing technician?
Postings that ask for up to 1 year of experience advertise a median of $23.75 an hour (278 postings).
| Experience asked | Median advertised pay | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 years | $23.75/hr | 278 |
| 2-4 years | $29.85/hr | 339 |
| 5+ years | withheld | 65 |
Manufacturing technician levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level I | 9.6% | 1 year | – |
| No level in title | 79.7% | 2 years | $26.97/hr |
Highest-paying manufacturing technician jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing Technician (general) | $26.75/hr | 472 | 184 |
Manufacturing technician pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $31.61/hr | $26.00–$36.50 | 153 | 14.6% |
Skills employers ask for in manufacturing technician job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 28% |
| Attention to detail | 27% |
| Problem-solving | 16% |
| Excel | 12% |
| Mechanical aptitude | 10% |
| Work independently | 9% |
| Microsoft Office | 9% |
| Organizational skills | 8% |
| Interpersonal skills | 7% |
| Troubleshooting | 7% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set manufacturing technicians apart
- Mechanical aptitude14.9× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Hand tools10.8× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Troubleshooting3.6× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Basic computer skills3.5× as often as in all postings · 6%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a manufacturing technician job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a manufacturing technician do?
Employers post these jobs as Process Technician, Production Technician, Manufacturing Engineering Technician, Manufacturing Specialist, Manufacturing Technician I and other titles. The largest specializations are Production Technician (20%), Process Technician (19%), Manufacturing Specialist (7%), Composite Technician (4%), Operations Technician (2%), Casting Technician (under 1%).
The closest official occupation is Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians (17-3026.00). Its most important tasks:
- Adhere to all applicable regulations, policies, and procedures for health, safety, and environmental compliance.
- Oversee or inspect production processes.
- Identify opportunities for improvements in quality, cost, or efficiency of automation equipment.
- Develop or implement programs to address problems related to production, materials, safety, or quality.
- Test selected products at specified stages in the production process for performance characteristics or adherence to specifications.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a manufacturing technician?
Among 1,536 postings that state a minimum, the median is 2 years. 6% say 0 years and 37% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,536 US manufacturing technician job postings: median 2 years, and 37% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 9% |
| 1 yr | 28% |
| 2 yrs | 33% |
| 3-4 yrs | 19% |
| 5-7 yrs | 9% |
| 8-9 yrs | under 1% |
| 10+ yrs | under 1% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 99% of the 374 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a manufacturing technician: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing Technician | 291 (21.3%) |
| Process Technician | 244 (17.8%) |
| Production Technician | 233 (17.0%) |
| Manufacturing Engineering Technician | 71 (5.2%) |
| Manufacturing Specialist | 65 (4.8%) |
| Manufacturing Technician I | 56 (4.1%) |
| Production Technician I | 46 (3.4%) |
| Manufacturing Associate I | 35 (2.6%) |
| Process Engineering Technician | 35 (2.6%) |
| Manufacturing Tech | 34 (2.5%) |
| Production Technician II | 33 (2.4%) |
| Fabrication Technician | 31 (2.3%) |
| Manufacturing Technician II | 31 (2.3%) |
| Mold Technician | 30 (2.2%) |
| Composite Technician | 27 (2.0%) |
| Manufacturing Technician III | 24 (1.8%) |
| Molding Technician | 23 (1.7%) |
| Process Technician I | 22 (1.6%) |
| Manufacturing Technician 1 | 17 (1.2%) |
| Manufacturing Associate II | 16 (1.2%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Manufacturing technician job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process Technician | 492 | 244 | – | 2 years | communication, Excel, problem-solving |
| Production Technician | 444 | 233 | – | – | attention to detail, communication, positive attitude |
Manufacturing Technician compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing Technician | $25.00/hr | 2 years | 3,947 | – |
| Machine Operator | $21.38/hr | 1 year | 20,043 | 18 |
| Assembler | $21.45/hr | 1 year | 6,799 | 17 |
| Plant Operator | – | 2 years | 1,418 | 18 |
| Millwright | – | 3 years | 855 | 14 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Operator | 18 | $21.38/hr |
| Assembler | 17 | $21.45/hr |
| Plant Operator | 18 | – |
| Millwright | 14 | – |
| Engineering Technician | 17 | $31.50/hr |
| Field Service Technician | 19 | $30.30/hr |
Applying for manufacturing technician jobs?
- Manufacturing technician resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find manufacturing technician jobs: search open postings
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 19 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 17 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.