---
title: "Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender"
description: "Set up, operate, or tend spraying or rolling machines to coat or paint any of a wide variety of products, including glassware, cloth, ceramics, metal…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/coating-painting-and-spraying-machine-setter-operator-and-tender"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-9124 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-9124.00

Set up, operate, or tend spraying or rolling machines to coat or paint any of a wide variety of products, including glassware, cloth, ceramics, metal, plastic, paper, or wood, with lacquer, silver, copper, rubber, varnish, glaze, enamel, oil, or rust-proofing materials. Includes painters of transportation vehicles such as painters in auto body repair facilities.

Also advertised as: Automotive Painter (Auto Painter); Automotive Refinish Technician (Auto Refinish Tech); Coater Operator; Hand Sprayer; Industrial Painter; Paint Technician (Paint Tech); Painter; Powder Coater.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $48,250 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.20/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $36,260 to $74,730, with the middle half between $40,590 and $59,680
- **Total US employment:** 158,740
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +0.7% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 15,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 52/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 158,740 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $36,260 |
| 25th | $40,590 |
| 50th (median) | $48,250 |
| 75th | $59,680 |
| 90th | $74,730 |
| Mean (average) | $52,620 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AK | $69,910 | $68,299 | 140 |
| WA | $59,980 | $56,049 | 3,980 |
| NJ | $58,240 | $53,527 | 2,890 |
| ME | $56,200 | $57,908 | 680 |
| MD | $55,510 | $52,887 | 1,010 |
| CO | $53,590 | $52,003 | 1,470 |
| MS | $53,170 | $61,148 | 2,010 |
| CA | $52,950 | $47,823 | 11,570 |
| CT | $52,900 | $51,057 | 1,550 |
| MN | $52,210 | $52,940 | 3,430 |
| HI | $51,990 | $47,285 | 230 |
| MA | $51,150 | $48,366 | 2,740 |
| ND | $51,020 | $57,352 | 560 |
| WY | $50,220 | $54,180 | 220 |
| VA | $49,880 | $49,335 | 4,130 |

36 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 51 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/coating-painting-and-spraying-machine-setter-operator-and-tender/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/coating-painting-and-spraying-machine-setter-operator-and-tender.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 165,500 in the 2024–2034 base year to 166,700 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 1,200 jobs, or +0.7%. Slower than average: 0.7% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 15,800 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 62.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 26.7% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 7.1% |
| Some College Courses | 3.6% |

## What the work involves

- Clean equipment and work areas.
- Dispose of hazardous waste in an appropriate manner.
- Use brush to hand-paint areas in need of retouching or unreachable with a spray gun.
- Monitor painting operations to identify flaws, such as blisters or streaks, and correct their causes.
- Hold or position spray guns to direct spray onto articles.
- Turn dials, handwheels, valves, or switches to regulate conveyor speeds, machine temperature, air pressure and circulation, and the flow or spray of coatings or paints.
- Spray prepared surfaces with specified amounts of primers and decorative or finish coatings.
- Examine, measure, weigh, or test sample products to ensure conformance to specifications.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Selection — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 2.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Chemistry — importance 2.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 2.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Near Vision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Visual Color Discrimination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Finger Dexterity — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 6.98 |
| C — Conventional | 3.64 |
| A — Artistic | 2.11 |
| I — Investigative | 1.49 |
| S — Social | 1.23 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.05 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 82.5 |
| ISTP | 74.6 |
| ISFJ | 70.9 |
| ESTJ | 66.7 |
| INTJ | 62.8 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Painting, Coating, and Decorating Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/painting-coating-and-decorating-worker) — median $41,600
- [Plating Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/plating-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $43,960
- [Molder, Shaper, and Caster, Except Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/molder-shaper-and-caster) — median $46,170
- [Furniture Finisher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/furniture-finisher) — median $44,540
- [Grinding and Polishing Worker, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-and-polishing-worker-hand) — median $42,660
- [Adhesive Bonding Machine Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/adhesive-bonding-machine-operator-and-tender) — median $46,460
- [Painter, Construction and Maintenance](https://nuecareer.com/careers/painter-construction-and-maintenance) — median $49,400
- [Fiberglass Laminator and Fabricator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fiberglass-laminator-and-fabricator) — median $46,880
- [Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/textile-bleaching-and-dyeing-machine-operator-and-tender) — median $38,180
- [Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operator and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cleaning-washing-and-metal-pickling-equipment-operator-and-tender) — median $43,530

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

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