---
title: "Model Maker, Metal and Plastic"
description: "Set up and operate machines, such as lathes, milling and engraving machines, and jig borers to make working models of metal or plastic objects. Includes…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/model-maker-metal-and-plastic"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Model Maker, Metal and Plastic

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-4061 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-4061.00

Set up and operate machines, such as lathes, milling and engraving machines, and jig borers to make working models of metal or plastic objects. Includes template makers.

Also advertised as: CNC Machinist (Computer Numerical Control Machinist); CNC Programmer (Computer Numerical Control Programmer); Metal Model Maker; Model Builder; Model Maker; Model Maker Machinist; Model Technician (Model Tech); Molding Technician (Molding Tech).

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $63,340 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $30.45/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $39,760 to $99,010, with the middle half between $47,360 and $86,740
- **Total US employment:** 2,610
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -17.3% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 42/100 — 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 2,610 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $39,760 |
| 25th | $47,360 |
| 50th (median) | $63,340 |
| 75th | $86,740 |
| 90th | $99,010 |
| Mean (average) | $68,570 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $92,960 | $83,960 | 260 |
| FL | $79,930 | $77,291 | 50 |
| NY | $77,710 | $72,006 | 120 |
| NJ | $72,340 | $66,486 | 70 |
| IL | $68,890 | $68,919 | Not published by BLS |
| MA | $67,830 | $64,138 | 100 |
| TX | $65,920 | $67,919 | 230 |
| IN | $62,620 | $67,096 | 50 |
| IA | $61,550 | $70,133 | 40 |
| OH | $60,880 | $65,622 | 60 |
| MI | $60,540 | $62,920 | 710 |
| RI | $55,560 | $54,321 | 40 |
| UT | $53,650 | $54,266 | 60 |
| PA | $52,990 | $54,309 | 40 |
| NC | $45,760 | $48,513 | Not published by BLS |

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 2,600 in the 2025–2035 base year to 2,200 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 500 jobs, or -17.3%. Declining: -17.3% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 200 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:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium 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) | 41.0% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 37.7% |
| Some College Courses | 15.5% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 5.0% |
| Post-Master's Certificate | 0.8% |

## What the work involves

- Study blueprints, drawings, and sketches to determine material dimensions, required equipment, and operations sequences.
- Devise and construct tools, dies, molds, jigs, and fixtures, or modify existing tools and equipment.
- Rework or alter component model or parts as required to ensure that products meet standards.
- Grind, file, and sand parts to finished dimensions.
- Inspect and test products to verify conformance to specifications, using precision measuring instruments or circuit testers.
- Consult and confer with engineering personnel to discuss developmental problems and to recommend product modifications.
- Drill, countersink, and ream holes in parts and assemblies for bolts, screws, and other fasteners, using power tools.
- Set up and operate machines, such as lathes, drill presses, punch presses, or bandsaws, to fabricate prototypes or models.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Critical Thinking — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — 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 2.4 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.

- Operation and Control — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Selection — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — 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
- Repairing — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mechanical — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Visualization — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Finger Dexterity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.6 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 | 6.86 |
| C — Conventional | 4.03 |
| I — Investigative | 2.91 |
| A — Artistic | 2.66 |
| S — Social | 1.05 |
| E — Enterprising | 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 | 85.6 |
| ISTP | 80.9 |
| INTJ | 72.0 |
| ISFJ | 68.4 |
| ESTJ | 63.4 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISTP. 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.

- [Tool and Die Maker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tool-and-die-maker) — median $64,050
- [Layout Worker, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/layout-worker-metal-and-plastic) — median $63,870
- [Machinist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/machinist) — median $58,750
- [Engine and Other Machine Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/engine-and-other-machine-assembler) — median $53,710
- [Patternmaker, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/patternmaker-metal-and-plastic) — median $58,000
- [Model Maker, Wood](https://nuecareer.com/careers/model-maker-wood) — median $56,550
- [Structural Metal Fabricator and Fitter](https://nuecareer.com/careers/structural-metal-fabricator-and-fitter) — median $51,330
- [Milling and Planing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/milling-and-planing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $52,800
- [Electrical and Electronic Equipment Assembler](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-and-electronic-equipment-assembler) — median $45,930
- [Molder, Shaper, and Caster, Except Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/molder-shaper-and-caster) — median $46,170

## 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/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 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 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

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