Careers / Conveyor Operators and Tenders

Conveyor Operators and Tenders — Career Decision Dashboard

United States

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Median annual wage

$42,420

United States, 2025

Employment

22,930

United States, 2025

Typical education

Less than a High School Diploma

Job Zone 2

Skills identified

35

10 related careers

Career overview

Control or tend conveyors or conveyor systems that move materials or products to and from stockpiles, processing stations, departments, or vehicles. May control speed and routing of materials or products.

O*NET code
53-7011.00
Job zone
2
Experience required
None

Typical tasks

  • Stop equipment or machinery and clear jams, using poles, bars, and hand tools, or remove damaged materials from conveyors.
  • Load, unload, or adjust materials or products on conveyors by hand, by using lifts, hoists, and scoops, or by opening gates, chutes, or hoppers.
  • Observe conveyor operations and monitor lights, dials, and gauges to maintain specified operating levels and to detect equipment malfunctions.
  • Observe packages moving along conveyors to identify packages, detect defective packaging, and perform quality control.
  • Position deflector bars, gates, chutes, or spouts to divert flow of materials from one conveyor onto another conveyor.
  • Clean, sterilize, and maintain equipment, machinery, and work stations, using hand tools, shovels, brooms, chemicals, hoses, and lubricants.
  • Record production data such as weights, types, quantities, and storage locations of materials, as well as equipment performance problems and downtime.
  • Inform supervisors of equipment malfunctions that need to be addressed.

Choose a location

Salary analysis — United States

$36,180
10th
$38,180
25th
$42,420
Median
$48,530
75th
$59,470
90th

10th percentile

$36,180

25th percentile

$38,180

75th percentile

$48,530

90th percentile

$59,470

Most important skills

  • Operation and Control4.0
  • Operations Monitoring4.0
  • Monitoring3.4
  • Active Listening3.1
  • Critical Thinking3.0
  • Complex Problem Solving3.0
  • Speaking3.0
  • Time Management2.9
  • Troubleshooting2.9
  • Reading Comprehension2.9
  • Quality Control Analysis2.9
  • Judgment and Decision Making2.9

What skills do you need?

Select the skills you already have

Skills listed are those O*NET rates at importance 3.0 or above for this occupation. Set your own level on the same 0–7 O*NET scale.

Skill coverage

0%

0 of 7 identified skills

Matched

0

Missing

7

Your selected skills cover approximately 0% of the skills identified for this occupation in O*NET. This is a coverage measure of listed skills only — it is not a qualification, hiring or interview outcome.

Skills to develop

SkillImportanceRequired levelYour levelGap
Operations Monitoring4.04.0Not selected4.0
Operation and Control4.03.9Not selected3.9
Monitoring3.43.1Not selected3.1
Active Listening3.13.0Not selected3.0
Critical Thinking3.02.9Not selected2.9
Speaking3.02.9Not selected2.9
Complex Problem Solving3.02.8Not selected2.8

Ordered by required level gap multiplied by O*NET importance. No prediction or recommendation is implied.

Related careers

How salary varies by location

LocationMedianEmploymentYear
Wheeling, WV$64,1601602025
Baton Rouge, LA$63,7802025
Merced, CA$62,970402025
WV$62,8305802025
Charleston, WV$62,820702025
Paducah, KY$59,140502025
Evansville, IN$57,780302025
IA$56,9005902025
MD$56,120302025
AL$55,9702102025
Birmingham, AL$55,110802025
LA$54,5902102025
WY$52,4801202025
San Francisco, CA$50,8101202025
NJ$50,7502102025
Kansas City, MO$50,4101102025
Chattanooga, TN$49,910502025
Allentown, PA$49,680402025
UT$48,6201402025
Greeley, CO$48,470502025
All locations with published data

Career transition paths

Compare the skills of a career you hold today with Conveyor Operators and Tenders to see shared skills, target-only skills and skill overlap.

Build a transition comparison

Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0.

Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025 (May 2025 release).

Figures are periodic published survey snapshots, not real-time market rates.