Careers / Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood — Career Decision Dashboard

United States

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Median annual wage

$42,770

United States, 2025

Employment

40,850

United States, 2025

Typical education

High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)

Job Zone 2

Skills identified

35

10 related careers

Career overview

Set up, operate, or tend wood sawing machines. May operate computer numerically controlled (CNC) equipment. Includes lead sawyers.

O*NET code
51-7041.00
Job zone
2
Experience required
None

Typical tasks

  • Examine logs or lumber to plan the best cuts.
  • Trim lumber to straighten rough edges or remove defects, using circular saws.
  • Count, sort, or stack finished workpieces.
  • Adjust bolts, clamps, stops, guides, or table angles or heights, using hand tools.
  • Inspect and measure workpieces to mark for cuts and to verify the accuracy of cuts, using rulers, squares, or caliper rules.
  • Adjust saw blades, using wrenches and rulers, or by turning handwheels or pressing pedals, levers, or panel buttons.
  • Mount and bolt sawing blades or attachments to machine shafts.
  • Set up, operate, or tend saws or machines that cut or trim wood to specified dimensions, such as circular saws, band saws, multiple-blade sawing machines, scroll saws, ripsaws, or crozer machines.

Choose a location

Salary analysis — United States

$30,890
10th
$36,510
25th
$42,770
Median
$48,620
75th
$58,170
90th

10th percentile

$30,890

25th percentile

$36,510

75th percentile

$48,620

90th percentile

$58,170

Most important skills

  • Operations Monitoring3.1
  • Operation and Control3.1
  • Critical Thinking3.0
  • Troubleshooting3.0
  • Quality Control Analysis3.0
  • Monitoring3.0
  • Time Management2.8
  • Equipment Maintenance2.8
  • Active Listening2.8
  • Judgment and Decision Making2.8
  • Complex Problem Solving2.6
  • Coordination2.6

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 6 identified skills

Matched

0

Missing

6

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 Monitoring3.13.1Not selected3.1
Operation and Control3.13.0Not selected3.0
Quality Control Analysis3.02.9Not selected2.9
Monitoring3.02.9Not selected2.9
Critical Thinking3.02.8Not selected2.8
Troubleshooting3.02.6Not selected2.6

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

Related careers

How salary varies by location

LocationMedianEmploymentYear
Longview, WA$60,1001802025
Seattle, WA$55,2803802025
Santa Cruz, CA$54,340302025
Minneapolis, MN$54,0902802025
AK$52,6801002025
WA$51,9401,7202025
Hartford, CT$51,540402025
MN$51,3305002025
CT$51,1501102025
San Jose, CA$50,720602025
Redding, CA$50,6301602025
Santa Rosa, CA$50,250802025
St. Cloud, MN$49,820302025
OR$49,7402,0102025
Portland, OR$49,7405602025
Baton Rouge, LA$49,700502025
Cleveland, OH$49,6103302025
Mount Vernon, WA$49,310902025
Vallejo, CA$49,250302025
Medford, OR$49,2301202025
All locations with published data

Career transition paths

Compare the skills of a career you hold today with Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood 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.