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Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic pay in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH and Chattanooga, TN-GA
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is $79,120 per year in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH. It is $41,810 per year in Chattanooga, TN-GA. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH is 89.2% above Chattanooga, TN-GA on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 51-4032 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists 60 wage and salary jobs in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH and 60 in Chattanooga, TN-GA. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.