---
title: "Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender"
description: "Set up, operate, or tend machines to crush, grind, or polish materials, such as coal, glass, grain, stone, food, or rubber."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/crushing-grinding-and-polishing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-9021 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-9021.00

Set up, operate, or tend machines to crush, grind, or polish materials, such as coal, glass, grain, stone, food, or rubber.

Also advertised as: Beveler Operator; Cullet Trucker; Grinder; Grinder Operator; Machine Operator; Machine Tender; Miller; Polisher.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $48,540 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $23.34/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $36,520 to $69,240, with the middle half between $40,430 and $60,040
- **Total US employment:** 26,000
- **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:** -1.7% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 2,300 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 45/100 — 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 26,000 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $36,520 |
| 25th | $40,430 |
| 50th (median) | $48,540 |
| 75th | $60,040 |
| 90th | $69,240 |
| Mean (average) | $51,380 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WY | $71,300 | $76,922 | 170 |
| AK | $68,730 | $67,146 | 60 |
| IA | $62,590 | $71,318 | 1,420 |
| NV | $60,180 | $60,193 | 660 |
| MT | $60,110 | $63,511 | 260 |
| NE | $58,920 | $65,392 | 270 |
| VT | $58,890 | $60,118 | 160 |
| WV | $58,760 | $65,656 | 160 |
| NY | $58,090 | $53,826 | 950 |
| MN | $56,550 | $57,341 | 660 |
| OR | $55,600 | $53,792 | 490 |
| WI | $54,580 | $58,005 | 530 |
| ME | $54,080 | $55,724 | 150 |
| CT | $53,130 | $51,279 | 200 |
| PA | $52,560 | $53,868 | 980 |

33 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 48 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/crushing-grinding-and-polishing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/crushing-grinding-and-polishing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 26,600 in the 2025–2035 base year to 26,100 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 400 jobs, or -1.7%. Declining: -1.7% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 2,300 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## 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 or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 61.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 19.4% |
| Some College Courses | 17.7% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 1.2% |

## What the work involves

- Observe operation of equipment to ensure continuity of flow, safety, and efficient operation, and to detect malfunctions.
- Notify supervisors of needed repairs.
- Clean work areas.
- Dislodge and clear jammed materials or other items from machinery and equipment, using hand tools.
- Tend accessory equipment, such as pumps and conveyors, to move materials or ingredients through production processes.
- Weigh or measure materials, ingredients, or products at specified intervals to ensure conformance to requirements.
- Inspect chains, belts, or scrolls for signs of wear.
- Record data from operations, testing, and production on specified forms.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 2.5 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 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operation and Control — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — 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

### Knowledge areas

- Administration and Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Multilimb Coordination — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Rate Control — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reaction Time — importance 3.5 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 | 6.84 |
| C — Conventional | 4.59 |
| I — Investigative | 2.12 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.41 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |
| S — Social | 1.00 |

### 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 | 90.5 |
| ISTP | 76.2 |
| ISFJ | 75.4 |
| ESTJ | 75.0 |
| INTJ | 65.8 |

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.

- [Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $46,550
- [Grinding and Polishing Worker, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-and-polishing-worker-hand) — median $42,660
- [Machine Feeder and Offbearer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/machine-feeder-and-offbearer) — median $41,220
- [Cutting and Slicing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutting-and-slicing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $46,570
- [Tool Grinder, Filer, and Sharpener](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tool-grinder-filer-and-sharpener) — median $50,060
- [Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/extruding-forming-pressing-and-compacting-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $45,760
- [Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Except Sawing](https://nuecareer.com/careers/woodworking-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $43,380
- [Mixing and Blending Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mixing-and-blending-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $48,990
- [Rolling Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/rolling-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $50,140
- [Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/separating-filtering-clarifying-precipitating-and-still-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $51,610

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 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, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **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 31.0 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

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/crushing-grinding-and-polishing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender