Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2018

51-5112 Printing Press Operators

Set up and operate digital, letterpress, lithographic, flexographic, gravure, or other printing machines. Includes short-run offset printing presses.

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
Geographic profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
173,470	1.3 %	$18.49	$38,470	0.5 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$10.91	$13.47	$17.41	$22.58	$28.23
Annual Wage (2)	$22,690	$28,010	$36,220	$46,980	$58,710

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest published employment and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all industries with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Printing and Related Support Activities	104,550	24.04	$18.40	$38,270
Converted Paper Product Manufacturing	11,200	4.15	$19.78	$41,150
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers	10,440	3.14	$19.29	$40,130
Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services	8,060	1.65	$18.15	$37,750
Plastics Product Manufacturing	5,620	0.96	$18.53	$38,540

Industries with the highest concentration of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Printing and Related Support Activities	104,550	24.04	$18.40	$38,270
Converted Paper Product Manufacturing	11,200	4.15	$19.78	$41,150
Manufacturing and Reproducing Magnetic and Optical Media	420	3.29	$19.57	$40,700
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers	10,440	3.14	$19.29	$40,130
Other Textile Product Mills	1,550	2.43	$15.49	$32,230

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Federal Executive Branch (OES Designation)	540	0.03	$47.12	$98,010
Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations	90	0.02	$25.12	$52,250
Local Government, excluding schools and hospitals (OES Designation)	610	0.01	$24.54	$51,030
Business Schools and Computer and Management Training	30	0.05	$20.89	$43,460
Computer Systems Design and Related Services	300	0.01	$20.86	$43,390

Geographic profile for this occupation: Top

States and areas with the highest published employment, location quotients, and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all areas with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

States with the highest employment level in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
California	14,460	0.85	0.71	$18.93	$39,380
Texas	10,810	0.89	0.74	$18.61	$38,710
Pennsylvania	9,770	1.67	1.39	$18.82	$39,150
Illinois	9,590	1.60	1.34	$21.18	$44,050
New York	9,380	1.00	0.83	$20.08	$41,770

States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Wisconsin	9,220	3.24	2.70	$18.48	$38,430
Kansas	3,330	2.42	2.02	$16.52	$34,350
Minnesota	6,220	2.17	1.81	$21.47	$44,670
Nebraska	2,040	2.08	1.74	$16.88	$35,110
Kentucky	3,610	1.91	1.60	$16.13	$33,540

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
District of Columbia	530	0.74	0.62	$38.79	$80,680
Alaska	160	0.50	0.42	$23.14	$48,140
New Jersey	3,660	0.90	0.75	$21.91	$45,580
Minnesota	6,220	2.17	1.81	$21.47	$44,670
Illinois	9,590	1.60	1.34	$21.18	$44,050

Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in this occupation:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	7,690	0.81	0.68	$22.09	$45,940
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	7,640	1.65	1.37	$21.58	$44,890
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	6,790	1.11	0.93	$18.54	$38,560
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	4,810	1.35	1.13	$20.48	$42,610
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	4,470	2.29	1.91	$22.23	$46,230
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	4,360	1.63	1.36	$17.48	$36,350
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	3,680	1.29	1.08	$20.52	$42,680
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI	2,840	3.34	2.79	$18.44	$38,350
St. Louis, MO-IL	2,570	1.89	1.58	$21.75	$45,240
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH	2,500	0.91	0.76	$21.58	$44,880