INSTRUMENT TECHNICIAN
MEDIAN PAY (BLS 2024)
Instrument Technicians nationwide earn a median of $32.89/hr per the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS 2024 survey. 9,430 instrument technicians employed across the U.S. See the state-by-state breakdown below — the highest-paying states often run 30%+ over the national median.
$32.89/hr median · $68,417 annualized (40 hr/wk × 52 wk)
Employment-weighted estimate from 50-state BLS OEWS data (the official BLS national row isn't in our dataset yet). State medians below are real BLS figures.
STATE-BY-STATE MEDIAN
BLS · sorted highest first| State | Median /hr | Top 10% /hr | Employed | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | $53.35 | $61.32 | 90 | VIEW |
| New Hampshire | $42.55 | $58.45 | 60 | VIEW |
| Washington | $42.08 | $54.26 | 240 | VIEW |
| Colorado | $39.63 | $55.39 | 70 | VIEW |
| Delaware | $38.58 | $45.36 | 80 | VIEW |
| Tennessee | $38.46 | $38.46 | 950 | VIEW |
| Hawaii | $37.82 | $44.14 | 200 | VIEW |
| Oregon | $37.71 | $45.82 | 190 | VIEW |
| New Jersey | $36.30 | $52.96 | 460 | VIEW |
| Louisiana | $35.70 | $41.48 | 100 | VIEW |
| Connecticut | $35.03 | $45.81 | 150 | VIEW |
| California | $34.74 | $51.80 | 1,610 | VIEW |
| Alabama | $33.77 | $37.43 | 90 | VIEW |
| Ohio | $33.39 | $47.70 | 530 | VIEW |
| Minnesota | $33.38 | $43.44 | 60 | VIEW |
| Mississippi | $33.11 | $36.96 | 30 | VIEW |
| Georgia | $32.61 | $37.70 | 170 | VIEW |
| Maryland | $32.24 | $49.42 | 280 | VIEW |
| Pennsylvania | $32.03 | $40.04 | 200 | VIEW |
| Arizona | $31.79 | $48.32 | 110 | VIEW |
| Virginia | $31.76 | $43.22 | 160 | VIEW |
| New Mexico | $31.54 | $39.90 | 90 | VIEW |
| Kansas | $30.71 | $37.83 | 90 | VIEW |
| Utah | $30.33 | $38.55 | 100 | VIEW |
| New York | $30.03 | $42.57 | 380 | VIEW |
| Michigan | $29.89 | $47.83 | 320 | VIEW |
| Texas | $29.55 | $51.28 | 530 | VIEW |
| North Dakota | $29.50 | $35.29 | 40 | VIEW |
| Missouri | $29.18 | $40.01 | 40 | VIEW |
| Oklahoma | $29.15 | $37.69 | 140 | VIEW |
| Massachusetts | $29.15 | $47.95 | — | VIEW |
| Iowa | $28.37 | $45.99 | 100 | VIEW |
| Arkansas | $28.36 | $50.06 | 170 | VIEW |
| Florida | $27.90 | $39.90 | 440 | VIEW |
| Kentucky | $27.63 | $44.94 | 110 | VIEW |
| Indiana | $27.00 | $39.71 | 180 | VIEW |
| North Carolina | $25.26 | $41.88 | 420 | VIEW |
| South Carolina | $24.82 | $49.57 | 180 | VIEW |
| Illinois | $23.27 | $43.54 | 180 | VIEW |
| Maine | $22.87 | $36.36 | 90 | VIEW |
TOP-PAYING METROS
DAVIS-BACON PREVAILING WAGES
LOOK UP DIRECTFederal construction work (LNG terminals, military bases, GSA, VA, federal infrastructure) uses Davis-Bacon prevailing wage determinations as a legal wage floor — base + fringe benefits, set per county per construction type. If you're on a federally-funded project paying below the WD, the contractor is out of compliance and you can file a WH-3.
Rates change frequently and are county-specific, so we link direct instead of caching stale numbers. Look up the active Wage Determination for your job at sam.gov/wage-determinations or dol.gov/whd/government-contracts.
Anonymous by default. The next hand reads what you post.
16 other trades. State medians + Davis-Bacon + per diem in one spot.