Skip to content

An independent salary reference. Not affiliated with BLS or any U.S. government agency.

Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Average Sewing Machine Operators Salary in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Sewing Machine Operators in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA earn a median annual salary of $45,910, which is +27.5% compared to the national median. There are 270 workers employed locally in this occupation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates for San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (metro area).

$45,910
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA median annual wage
$22/hour median
+27.5%
Difference vs national median
National median is $36,000
270
Local employment
0.2 jobs per 1,000 workers
0.33
Location quotient
Above 1.00 means the occupation is more concentrated here than nationally

Pay distribution

Local wage range

10th
$39,410
25th
$40,430
Median
$45,910
75th
$49,130
90th
$57,250

All values are percentiles of annual wages.

This local range is the useful part of the page. The median tells you the center of the market in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, while the percentile band shows how compressed or wide the local pay distribution actually is.

Regional price parity

Cost-of-living context

All-items regional price parity
110.4%
Exact metro RPP match
Median wage adjusted to the national price level
$41,576
Goods: 105.2%
Services: 156.7%
Rents: 211.9%

Comparison links

Comparable metros for this occupation

MetroMedian annual wageCompareEmployment
Appleton, WI$48,880Compare150
Glens Falls, NY$48,380Compare50
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA$46,990Compare40
Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC$46,360Compare1,980
Kingston, NY$46,170Compare30
Champaign-Urbana, IL$45,410Compare120

The point of this table is not random nearby places. It is to show the other labor markets where this same occupation looks stronger or weaker on the same OEWS release.

Area context

Top occupations in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has salary data for 600 occupations. The highest-paid occupation in this area is Training And Development Managers.

Historical series

Trend for Sewing Machine Operators in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Historical trend data is not yet available for this occupation in this area.

Interpretation

Outlook and page notes

Nationally, Sewing Machine Operators are projected to change by -10.8% from 2024 to 2034, with 13,000 annual openings.

Use this page to answer three separate questions: what the occupation pays here, how large the local market is, and whether this market is unusually concentrated for the occupation.

For metro pages in particular, read long-term trend rows as directional until the area comparability layer is fully wired. OEWS area definitions can change over time, and that matters more at the metro level than at the state level.