Start with the answer
Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders pay in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders is $47,960 per year in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH. It is $36,200 per year in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH is 32.5% above Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 51-6063 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 90 wage and salary jobs in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH and 430 in Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC. 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.