The 10 States With The Highest Sewing Machine Operator Salaries For 2023

Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do sewing machine operators get paid where I live?

And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for sewing machine operators by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.

The state with the best salary for sewing machine operators after this adjustment? That would be Sewing Machine Operators.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for sewing machine operator salaries:

To better understand how sewing machine operator salaries change across America, we decided to take a look the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average pay for sewing machine operators by state.

Additionally, we wanted to adjust the salary based on the cost of living in a state — because your salary goes further in North Carolina than it does in California.

Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.

How we determined sewing machine operator pay by state

As we mentioned earlier, we took the average annual salary data for sewing machine operators from the Bureau of Labor Statistics — specifically their ‘Occupational Employment Statistics.’

To make the comparison of salaries apples to apples across states, we also took into account the cost of living in each state.

We then created an index by dividing the average wage for a state by the cost of living relative to average. As an example, the cost of living index in California is 135.9 and the average pay is $33270, so our index value would be:

$33,270 * (100 / 135.9) = $24,481

We then ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary index ranking as highest average salary for sewing machine operators.

Here’s a look at the full ranking for all states.

Detailed List Of Sewing Machine Operator Salaries By State

Rank	State	Adjusted Salary	Average Wage	Cost Of Living
1	Colorado	$36,001	$37,370	103.8
2	Indiana	$35,765	$32,010	89.5
3	Michigan	$35,348	$31,460	89.0
4	Mississippi	$34,947	$30,020	85.9
5	North Dakota	$34,839	$34,630	99.4
6	Washington	$34,809	$36,620	105.2
7	Wisconsin	$34,039	$32,950	96.8
8	Illinois	$33,826	$32,000	94.6
9	Minnesota	$33,710	$33,980	100.8
10	Montana	$33,601	$33,870	100.8
11	Utah	$33,419	$31,080	93.0
12	Alaska	$33,188	$43,510	131.1
13	Delaware	$33,165	$33,630	101.4
14	North Carolina	$33,120	$31,100	93.9
15	Arizona	$33,071	$32,410	98.0
16	Wyoming	$32,995	$30,290	91.8
17	Kansas	$32,869	$29,550	89.9
18	Nebraska	$32,816	$30,060	91.6
19	Maine	$32,626	$36,150	110.8
20	Iowa	$32,461	$29,540	91.0
21	Oklahoma	$32,253	$28,770	89.2
22	Ohio	$32,089	$30,100	93.8
23	Arkansas	$31,940	$27,820	87.1
24	Missouri	$31,935	$28,870	90.4
25	South Carolina	$31,300	$31,050	99.2
26	Nevada	$30,909	$31,930	103.3
27	South Dakota	$30,800	$31,940	103.7
28	New Mexico	$30,756	$29,680	96.5
29	Virginia	$30,476	$30,720	100.8
30	Georgia	$30,437	$27,820	91.4
31	Pennsylvania	$30,157	$30,580	101.4
32	Tennessee	$30,022	$26,840	89.4
33	Texas	$29,823	$27,050	90.7
34	Oregon	$29,628	$34,250	115.6
35	Connecticut	$29,373	$37,510	127.7
36	Rhode Island	$29,370	$35,450	120.7
37	Kentucky	$29,248	$26,470	90.5
38	Idaho	$29,131	$26,830	92.1
39	West Virginia	$28,511	$26,630	93.4
40	Florida	$28,484	$28,000	98.3
41	Louisiana	$28,459	$26,980	94.8
42	New Hampshire	$28,282	$33,090	117.0
43	Vermont	$27,118	$32,840	121.1
44	Alabama	$27,105	$24,720	91.2
45	Massachusetts	$26,941	$35,940	133.4
46	New York	$26,809	$35,120	131.0
47	New Jersey	$26,144	$31,870	121.9
48	California	$24,481	$33,270	135.9
49	Maryland	$24,119	$30,270	125.5
50	Hawaii	$19,493	$32,730	167.9

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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