PayCrunch Research · National BLS OEWS May 2025 pay, with the state table still to come

PayCrunch · Production · SOC 51-2090

The assembler who can say which part failed the check

$64,880national 90th percentile · middle $44,650 / yr
The line still needs a person

Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in the United States earn a median of $44,650 a year. Pay starts near $33,280. The national 90th percentile is $64,880. This page does not publish a state top-of-range figure.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators, SOC 51-2090). Employment 1,405,030. Last checked 22 September 2026. National percentiles via the BLS OEWS release as republished on O*NET OnLine wage tables.

Entry level · national 10th
$33,280
National 90th percentile
$64,880
O*NET education note
No single published mode
Lower disruption Higher exposure The line still needs a person
Entry · $33,280 National 90th · $64,880 Middle $44,650

Wages — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2025 (Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators). Entry is the national 10th percentile. The top chip is the national 90th percentile, not a state. The middle half of workers earns $37,380 to $51,200. Hourly equivalents: $16.00, $21.47, and $31.19. O*NET does not publish a single education mode on the 51-2099.00 summary. This page does not invent one. The marker on the exposure bar is PayCrunch editorial context, not a BLS statistic. Updated 22 September 2026.

Assemble parts into finished goods on the BLS line for miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators. The wage is that national occupation, not a specialty title BLS does not publish.

AI tools that fit Assembler work September 2026

A short list of general tools. This is not a sponsored placement, not a weekly crawl, and not a product review with prices. Use whatever your employer already allows.

ChatGPTSee the vendor

A general assistant for plain-language notes.

How a Assembler uses it: Turn a defect note into steps a new assembler can follow, then match them to the plant's own sheet.

Microsoft CopilotSee the vendor

AI inside Excel and Outlook.

How a Assembler uses it: Summarize a week of scrap or rework counts before a stand-up.

Google GeminiSee the vendor

Google's assistant in Search and Workspace.

How a Assembler uses it: Check a published torque or spec callout only from a source you can name, not from a guess.

Assembler: the part, the check, and SOC 51-2090

Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators are SOC 51-2090. The locked chips are entry $33,280, median $44,650, and a national 90th percentile of $64,880. BLS counted 1,405,030 wage-and-salary workers in this occupation in May 2025. O*NET files the matching profile as 51-2099.00 and shows the same national percentiles. The sign-maker page on this site is a PayCrunch estimate. It is not this wage.

Where the national band sits

The middle half earns $37,380 to $51,200. The step from the median $44,650 to the national 90th percentile $64,880 is $20,230 a year. Lead, inspection, and setup duties are how people move inside this band. This page does not invent a state median.

What the station actually audits

A failed check names the part, the spec, and what you did. A count that hides scrap is not a count. The work instruction on the bench beats a sentence from a chat window.

Outlook

O*NET reports projected growth for 2024–2034 on the 51-2099.00 profile as little or no change. O*NET projects about 156,300 openings a year over 2024–2034. That outlook label is not a raise, and it is not the May 2025 employment count.

Locked wage chips on this page: entry $33,280, median $44,650, national 90th percentile $64,880. SOC 51-2090. If a sentence disagrees with those three figures, the figures win.

How to do the work that sits inside this pay band

These steps stay inside the published national range. They are not a promise that you will be paid the 90th percentile.

1
Stop the station when the check fails

A passed count that hid a bad part comes back as rework.

1
Name the part and the spec it missed.
2
Set it aside the way the sheet says.
3
Tell the lead which check is repeating.
Prompt
Rewrite this defect note so it names the part, the missed spec, and what is still unknown. Do not invent a tolerance I did not paste.
What changesThe failure is something quality can trace.
2
Count scrap separately from good pieces

A mixed count trains the line to ignore the loss.

1
Count good pieces.
2
Count scrap on its own line.
3
Stop when you do not know which is which.
Prompt
Turn this tally into two counts, good and scrap. Do not add a yield target I did not paste.
What changesThe tally matches what left the station.
3
Follow the revision that is on the bench

An old sheet builds the wrong unit.

1
Read the revision on the sheet in front of you.
2
Do not substitute a step from memory when the sheet changed.
3
Ask when the sheet and the part do not match.
Prompt
List the questions I should ask when this work instruction and this part disagree. Do not invent a revision I did not paste.
What changesYou build the revision the plant actually released.

Careers related to Assembler

Similar pay, same field

Where this can lead

Wages in this list are the national medians printed on those pages. Every new page in this batch uses BLS OEWS May 2025. The step from this median to the national 90th percentile is $20,230.

Never used AI before? Start here (2 minutes).

Paste only facts you already have: a count, a date, a step, a file name. If the draft adds a number, a policy, or a product you did not provide, delete it.

Do not paste account numbers, full customer records, patient information, or anything your employer has told you to keep inside its own system.

Gear for this job

TODO: PC_GEAR is not filled in this batch. No product links and no ASINs until a reviewed list exists. Do not invent ASINs.

What Assemblers earn by state

TODO: state-wage table is not filled in this batch. The chips above are national OEWS May 2025 percentiles only. State medians are not estimated here.

Questions
How much does an assembler make?
Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators have a national median of $44,650 a year ($21.47 an hour). Entry is $33,280. The national 90th percentile is $64,880. SOC 51-2090, BLS OEWS May 2025.
Why do BLS and O*NET use different codes?
BLS publishes this wage as SOC 51-2090. O*NET's profile is 51-2099.00, and the national percentiles match. Employment on this page is the OEWS count, 1,405,030.
Why is there no state table?
State medians are a TODO on this page. The figures above are national percentiles only.

Sources

  • Salary (10th, 25th, median, 75th, 90th) — national BLS OEWS May 2025.
  • Employment — national OEWS May 2025 wage-and-salary employment, 1,405,030.
  • Outlook — O*NET reports projected growth for 2024–2034 on profile 51-2099.00 as little or no change. Projected openings: about 156,300 a year.
  • Not on this page — state wages, metro wages, and product recommendations.

Check another occupation

These ten pages are the next high-employment OEWS lines that were missing as their own salary URLs.