Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2020

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 Printing Press Operators
Industry profile for Printing Press Operators
Geographic profile for Printing Press Operators

National estimates for Printing Press Operators:

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for Printing Press Operators:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
160,270	1.4 %	$ 19.32	$ 40,200	0.5 %

Percentile wage estimates for Printing Press Operators:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$ 12.08	$ 14.39	$ 18.21	$ 23.31	$ 28.86
Annual Wage (2)	$ 25,120	$ 29,940	$ 37,880	$ 48,480	$ 60,040

Industry profile for Printing Press Operators:

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

Industries with the highest levels of employment in Printing Press Operators:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Printing and Related Support Activities	95,340	24.33	$ 19.24	$ 40,030
Converted Paper Product Manufacturing	10,610	4.03	$ 20.96	$ 43,610
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers	8,520	3.11	$ 19.99	$ 41,570
Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services	6,830	1.50	$ 19.09	$ 39,710
Plastics Product Manufacturing	5,900	1.05	$ 19.38	$ 40,310

Industries with the highest concentration of employment in Printing Press Operators:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Printing and Related Support Activities	95,340	24.33	$ 19.24	$ 40,030
Converted Paper Product Manufacturing	10,610	4.03	$ 20.96	$ 43,610
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers	8,520	3.11	$ 19.99	$ 41,570
Other Textile Product Mills	1,790	3.05	$ 15.98	$ 33,240
Manufacturing and Reproducing Magnetic and Optical Media	260	2.31	$ 20.17	$ 41,960

Top paying industries for Printing Press Operators:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Federal Executive Branch (OEWS Designation)	540	0.03	$ 50.20	$ 104,410
Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations	70	0.02	$ 26.03	$ 54,140
Local Government, excluding schools and hospitals (OEWS Designation)	550	0.01	$ 25.77	$ 53,600
Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing	(8)	(8)	$ 24.82	$ 51,630
Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (3323 and 3324 only)	190	0.04	$ 24.33	$ 50,610

Geographic profile for Printing Press Operators:

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

States with the highest employment level in Printing Press Operators:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
California	12,940	0.79	0.68	$ 20.03	$ 41,670
Texas	10,170	0.84	0.73	$ 20.21	$ 42,030
Illinois	9,580	1.70	1.48	$ 19.39	$ 40,330
Wisconsin	8,910	3.29	2.85	$ 19.94	$ 41,470
Ohio	8,560	1.67	1.45	$ 18.69	$ 38,870

States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in Printing Press Operators:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Wisconsin	8,910	3.29	2.85	$ 19.94	$ 41,470
Kansas	3,050	2.29	1.99	$ 17.61	$ 36,630
Nebraska	2,100	2.23	1.94	$ 16.82	$ 34,980
Minnesota	5,850	2.16	1.88	$ 21.87	$ 45,500
Kentucky	3,610	2.02	1.76	$ 18.85	$ 39,210

Top paying states for Printing Press Operators:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
District of Columbia	440	0.63	0.55	$ 43.48	$ 90,440
Hawaii	230	0.40	0.35	$ 22.96	$ 47,760
New Jersey	3,550	0.94	0.81	$ 22.65	$ 47,100
Washington	2,550	0.80	0.69	$ 22.40	$ 46,580
Minnesota	5,850	2.16	1.88	$ 21.87	$ 45,500

Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in Printing Press Operators:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	7,590	1.74	1.51	$ 19.97	$ 41,550
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	6,910	0.78	0.68	$ 22.32	$ 46,420
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	5,870	1.01	0.87	$ 19.74	$ 41,060
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	4,410	1.23	1.07	$ 22.88	$ 47,590
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	3,960	2.14	1.86	$ 22.92	$ 47,680
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	3,720	1.41	1.23	$ 18.77	$ 39,040
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	3,450	1.28	1.11	$ 21.25	$ 44,190
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI	3,110	3.87	3.36	$ 19.11	$ 39,740
St. Louis, MO-IL	2,550	1.96	1.70	$ 20.76	$ 43,190
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ	2,240	1.06	0.92	$ 18.47	$ 38,420

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in Printing Press Operators:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Lawrence, KS	590	13.19	11.45	$ 16.16	$ 33,620
Oshkosh-Neenah, WI	990	10.88	9.44	$ 21.10	$ 43,900
Mankato-North Mankato, MN	430	8.58	7.44	$ 20.46	$ 42,560
Green Bay, WI	990	6.04	5.24	$ 20.10	$ 41,810
Dalton, GA	320	5.34	4.63	$ 11.69	$ 24,300
Appleton, WI	550	4.71	4.09	$ 24.16	$ 50,260
La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN	320	4.52	3.92	$ 17.90	$ 37,240
Bowling Green, KY	300	4.47	3.88	$ 18.40	$ 38,260
Ames, IA	180	4.22	3.66	$ 20.19	$ 41,990
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI	3,110	3.87	3.36	$ 19.11	$ 39,740