Mississippi·Production Occupations·SOC 51-4021

Best Extruding programs in Mississippi, ranked by enrollment

Set up, operate, or tend machines to extrude or draw thermoplastic or metal materials into tubes, rods, hoses, wire, bars, or structural.

11 schools in Mississippi run programs that feed this job, graduating 158 people a year. The job pays a median of $44,220 in Mississippi across about 550 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledMachine OperatorExtruder OperatorEquipment TechnicianExtrusion Press OperatorFormerGrid MakerJob MolderRod Drawer
Graduates / yr
158
in Mississippi
Median pay · Mississippi
$44,220
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
550
people employed
Schools
11
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
41%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Mississippi that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

1 programs in Mississippi that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Mississippi (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Mississippi page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1158
100.0%
11$36,566$9,429

Top 11 schools in Mississippi

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 11 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Meridian Community College
Meridian, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
42Machine Tool Technology/Machinist$31,98834%
2Northwest Mississippi Community College
Senatobia, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
35Machine Tool Technology/Machinist$36,30345%
3Itawamba Community College
Fulton, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
27Machine Tool Technology/Machinist$35,06150%
4Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
Perkinston, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
20Machine Tool Technology/Machinist48%
5Northeast Mississippi Community College
Booneville, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
13Machine Tool Technology/Machinist34%
6East Mississippi Community College
Scooba, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
10Machine Tool Technology/Machinist$35,34548%
7Holmes Community College
Goodman, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
6Machine Tool Technology/Machinist39%
8Hinds Community College
Raymond, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
2Machine Tool Technology/Machinist$22,43443%
9Jones County Junior College
Ellisville, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
1Machine Tool Technology/Machinist41%
10Mississippi Delta Community College
Moorhead, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
1Machine Tool Technology/Machinist31%
11Pearl River Community College
Poplarville, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
1Machine Tool Technology/Machinist37%

All 11 schools in Mississippi

Every school in Mississippi with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Mississippi that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Meridian Community CollegeMeridianPublic421
Northwest Mississippi Community CollegeSenatobiaPublic351
Itawamba Community CollegeFultonPublic271
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community CollegePerkinstonPublic201
Northeast Mississippi Community CollegeBoonevillePublic131
East Mississippi Community CollegeScoobaPublic101
Holmes Community CollegeGoodmanPublic61
Hinds Community CollegeRaymondPublic21
Jones County Junior CollegeEllisvillePublic11
Mississippi Delta Community CollegeMoorheadPublic11
Pearl River Community CollegePoplarvillePublic11

What extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn in Mississippi

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Mississippi
$44,220
Mean annual
$44,620
Jobs in state
550
What the range looks like
10th pct$36,570Median$44,22090th pct$53,850
Versus the national median
-7.3%

U.S. median $47,720. Mississippi pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.21×

Concentrated here: Mississippi employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Mississippi

Jackson, MS
$41,080median
70 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+1.2%
Little or no change
Openings per year
6,500
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
800
66,000 → 66,800
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic page.

How to become a Extruding

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

MonitoringCritical ThinkingSpeakingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Mississippi

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 48.0501Machine Tool Technology/Machinist

Common questions

Answers for people weighing extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic programs in Mississippi.

What degree do you need to become an Extruding?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Machine Tool Technology/Machinist, which awarded 158 degrees in Mississippi in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Extruding?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Precision Metal Working. Together they graduate about 158 people a year in Mississippi.

How much do extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn in Mississippi?+

The median is $44,220 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 7.3% below the U.S. median of $47,720. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic growing?+

BLS projects a +1.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 6,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Mississippi?+

11 institutions in Mississippi reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Machine Operator, Extruder Operator, Equipment Technician, Extrusion Press Operator among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-4021.

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in other statesCaliforniaSouth CarolinaTexasTennesseeKansasColoradoOklahomaUtah
Programs in MississippiMachine Tool Technology/Machinist

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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