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Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders pay in Cedar Rapids, IA and Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders is $63,690 per year in Cedar Rapids, IA. It is $57,680 per year in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY. Cedar Rapids, IA is 10.4% above Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 51-3093 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 40 wage and salary jobs in Cedar Rapids, IA and 80 in Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY. 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.
Evidence: bls-oews-may-2025 · Rule: same-soc-same-metric-pair · nominal-median-gap · employment-not-openings