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Best cities for machinists

Rank every metro by what matters to you: pay, buying power, rent and job market

Best cities for machinists, balanced Our calculation

With balanced priorities, Florence, AL ranks first for machinists: $82,690 median pay worth $97,492 after local prices. We ranked the 359 metros with enough published machinist data on pay, buying power, rent burden, job market size and unemployment.

  1. 1
    FlorenceALABAMA · AL · $82,690 median · $97,492 buying power · rent 12% of pay · 160 jobs
    90
  2. 2
    Baton RougeLOUISIANA · LA · $67,700 median · $74,576 buying power · rent 18% of pay · 870 jobs
    87
  3. 3
    BismarckNORTH DAKOTA · ND · $74,090 median · $81,396 buying power · rent 15% of pay · 70 jobs
    87
  4. 4
    AnnistonALABAMA · AL · $61,480 median · $71,531 buying power · rent 16% of pay · 240 jobs
    86
  5. 5
    GulfportMISSISSIPPI · MS · $63,330 median · $70,362 buying power · rent 18% of pay · 420 jobs
    85
  6. 6
    Grand IslandNEBRASKA · NE · $67,430 median · $77,813 buying power · rent 17% of pay · 90 jobs
    84
  7. 7
    MobileALABAMA · AL · $62,020 median · $70,399 buying power · rent 19% of pay · 380 jobs
    84
  8. 8
    La CrosseWISCONSIN · WI · $62,960 median · $68,607 buying power · rent 19% of pay · 170 jobs
    83
  9. 9
    FargoNORTH DAKOTA · ND · $61,820 median · $68,031 buying power · rent 18% of pay · 130 jobs
    83
  10. 10
    Lake CharlesLOUISIANA · LA · $75,580 median · $88,035 buying power · rent 14% of pay · 280 jobs
    83
  11. 11
    LafayetteINDIANA · IN · $62,220 median · $66,595 buying power · rent 20% of pay · 720 jobs
    83
  12. 12
    AppletonWISCONSIN · WI · $60,350 median · $65,300 buying power · rent 20% of pay · 660 jobs
    83
  13. 13
    HuntsvilleALABAMA · AL · $62,490 median · $67,142 buying power · rent 23% of pay · 670 jobs
    82
  14. 14
    LafayetteLOUISIANA · LA · $59,830 median · $68,605 buying power · rent 18% of pay · 980 jobs
    82
  15. 15
    DuluthMINNESOTA · MN · $69,440 median · $78,226 buying power · rent 17% of pay · 330 jobs
    82

Default weights: buying power 4, pay 3, rent 3, job market 2, unemployment 2. Change them below to re-rank.

Top 5 by each factor Government data

Highest pay

  1. Honolulu, HI: $84,410
  2. Florence, AL: $82,690
  3. Bremerton, WA: $80,620
  4. Barnstable Town, MA: $77,650
  5. Lake Charles, LA: $75,580

Most buying power

  1. Florence, AL: $97,492
  2. Lake Charles, LA: $88,035
  3. Bismarck, ND: $81,396
  4. Barnstable Town, MA: $78,952
  5. Duluth, MN: $78,226

Lowest rent burden

  1. Florence, AL: 12% of pay for a 1-bed
  2. Lake Charles, LA: 14% of pay for a 1-bed
  3. Monroe, LA: 15% of pay for a 1-bed
  4. Bismarck, ND: 15% of pay for a 1-bed
  5. St. Joseph, MO: 15% of pay for a 1-bed

Most jobs

  1. Chicago, IL: 11,270 employed
  2. Minneapolis, MN: 9,420 employed
  3. Houston, TX: 8,140 employed
  4. Los Angeles, CA: 7,850 employed
  5. Detroit, MI: 7,680 employed

See every metro on the machinist overview.

What matters to you? Our calculation

Pick a quick start or set your own weights. Each metro gets a percentile for every factor (compared with all metros for this trade), weighted by your sliders. Nothing is estimated: a metro needs at least 4 of the 5 figures published to be ranked, and results show when one is missing.

Pay and jobs: BLS OEWS May 2025. Buying power: BEA 2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. How we calculate

How the ranking works →

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