Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
SOC 51-7041 · 2024-2034
Set up, operate, or tend wood sawing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment. Includes lead sawyers.
How the U.S. Department of Labor describes this work. Published in English only.
What California expects of this job
- Typical pay in California
- $48,471per year
- Projected openings
- 3,670
- Projected change
- 0%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
Skills this work uses most
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, rates how important each of these is to this work, and they are listed in that order, most important first. The ratings themselves are not shown, because the data carries the number without the scale it was measured on. The names are as published, in English.
- Operations Monitoring
- Operation and Control
- Critical Thinking
- Quality Control Analysis
- Troubleshooting
- Monitoring
Pay by region
| Region | Typical pay in California | Projected openings |
|---|---|---|
| North Coast Region (Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, and Mendocino Counties) | $56,039 | 230 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma MSA (Sonoma County) | $51,514 | 60 |
| Redding MSA (Shasta County) | $48,354 | 110 |
| Chico MSA (Butte County) | $48,272 | 30 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom MSA (El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties) | $47,246 | 250 |
| Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine MD (Orange County) | $47,130 | 180 |
| Stockton-Lodi MSA (San Joaquin County) | $45,358 | 100 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario MSA (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties) | $44,455 | 380 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale MD (Los Angeles County) | $40,363 | 470 |
| Modesto MSA (Stanislaus County) | $39,654 | 60 |
| Salinas MSA (Monterey County) | $38,443 | 60 |
What the pay actually ranges across
- The lowest-paid tenth earn under
- $38,182
- A quarter earn under
- $40,565
- Half earn under
- $48,471
- Three quarters earn under
- $56,275
- The highest-paid tenth earn over
- $60,510
A median is one point. These are the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2026 figures for California, and they say how far apart the people doing this job actually are. Read them as the spread across everyone already in the work — not as a starting wage and not as a promise about where anyone lands.
Similar work
O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupation database, names these as occupations involving work similar to this one — its own reading of the job, not a grouping by code. They keep O*NET's order, and only those California publishes a projection for are shown.
| Occupation | Typical pay in California | Projected openings | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing | $47,428 | 3,500 | -2.9% |
| Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | $47,162 | 3,280 | -6.3% |
| Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | $61,553 | 2,020 | -15.4% |
| Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | $49,556 | 6,410 | -11.7% |
| Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand | $45,464 | 1,100 | -26.3% |
| Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic | $46,937 | 5,890 | -14.1% |