Start with the answer
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders pay in Reading, PA and Syracuse, NY
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders is $53,890 per year in Reading, PA. It is $82,530 per year in Syracuse, NY. Reading, PA is 34.7% below Syracuse, NY on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 51-9012 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 130 wage and salary jobs in Reading, PA and 520 in Syracuse, 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
