Tool and Die Makers

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025

$64,050

Half earn more, half earn less

Middle half earn

$51,490 – $78,770

25th to 75th percentile

People employed, May 2025

56,930

Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)

Projected change, 2025–35

-9.2%

Shrinking (below 0%)

Openings a year (projected)

4,300

New jobs plus replacing people who leave

Typical education to enter

Postsecondary nondegree award

BLS

• All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
• Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
• Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Analyze specifications, lay out metal stock, set up and operate machine tools, and fit and assemble parts to make and repair dies, cutting tools, jigs, fixtures, gauges, and machinists' hand tools.

Main tasks

• Verify dimensions, alignments, and clearances of finished parts for conformance to specifications, using measuring instruments such as calipers, gauge blocks, micrometers, or dial indicators.
• Set up and operate conventional or computer numerically controlled machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, or grinders to cut, bore, grind, or otherwise shape parts to prescribed dimensions and finishes.
• Visualize and compute dimensions, sizes, shapes, and tolerances of assemblies, based on specifications.
• Study blueprints, sketches, models, or specifications to plan sequences of operations for fabricating tools, dies, or assemblies.
• Fit and assemble parts to make, repair, or modify dies, jigs, gauges, and tools, using machine tools, hand tools, or welders.
• Inspect finished dies for smoothness, contour conformity, and defects.
• Select metals to be used from a range of metals and alloys, based on properties such as hardness or heat tolerance.
• Lift, position, and secure machined parts on surface plates or worktables, using hoists, vises, v-blocks, or angle plates.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)

Postsecondary nondegree award

Training once hired: long-term on-the-job training

O*NET Job Zone 3

Medium preparation

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 1 programme to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

• Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

  $50,060 median · -6.8% projected

• Model Makers, Metal and Plastic

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• Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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• Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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• Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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• Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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