Ohio·Production Occupations·SOC 51-4035

Best Milling programs in Ohio, ranked by enrollment

Set up, operate, or tend milling or planing machines to mill, plane, shape, groove, or profile metal or plastic work.

5 schools in Ohio run programs that feed this job, graduating 25 people a year. The job pays a median of $51,310 in Ohio across about 610 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledMill OperatorMachine OperatorCNC Mill Operator (Computerized Numerical Control Mill Operator)CNC Licensed Mill Operator (Computer Numerical Control Licensed Mill Operator)MillerScalperBroacherOperator
Graduates / yr
25
in Ohio
Median pay · Ohio
$51,310
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
610
people employed
Schools
5
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
64%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Ohio that lead to this job

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

1 programs in Ohio that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Ohio (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 Ohio page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 48.0501In Ohio
25
100.0%
5$36,566$9,429

Top 5 schools in Ohio

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 5 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Polaris Career Center
Middleburg Heights, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
9Machine Tool Technology/Machinist$32,22877%
2Cuyahoga Community College District
Cleveland, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
7Machine Tool Technology/Machinist31%
3Lorain County Joint Vocational School District
Oberlin, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
7Machine Tool Technology/Machinist90%
4Northwest State Community College
Archbold, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
1Machine Tool Technology/Machinist46%
5Upper Valley Career Center
Piqua, OH Public · 1 feeder programs
1Machine Tool Technology/Machinist78%

All 5 schools in Ohio

Every school in Ohio 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 Ohio that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Polaris Career CenterMiddleburg HeightsPublic91
Cuyahoga Community College DistrictClevelandPublic71
Lorain County Joint Vocational School DistrictOberlinPublic71
Northwest State Community CollegeArchboldPublic11
Upper Valley Career CenterPiquaPublic11

What milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn in Ohio

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

Median annual in Ohio
$51,310
Mean annual
$55,850
Jobs in state
610
What the range looks like
10th pct$45,020Median$51,31090th pct$71,650
Versus the national median
-2.8%

U.S. median $52,800. Ohio pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.38×

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

Metro areas in Ohio

Youngstown-Warren, OH
$60,380median
30 jobs
Cleveland, OH
$55,500median
130 jobs
Canton-Massillon, OH
$58,590median
30 jobs
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
$55,340median
50 jobs
Columbus, OH
$50,860median
70 jobs
Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH
$49,320median
50 jobs
Akron, OH
$47,780median
50 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-14.4%
Decline
Openings per year
1,100
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-2,000
13,800 → 11,800
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 Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic page.

How to become a Milling

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 ThinkingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionSpeakingWriting

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Ohio

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 1 majors mapped to Milling and Planing 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 milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic programs in Ohio.

What degree do you need to become a Milling?+

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 25 degrees in Ohio in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Milling?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Precision Metal Working. Together they graduate about 25 people a year in Ohio.

How much do milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic earn in Ohio?+

The median is $51,310 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.8% below the U.S. median of $52,800. 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 milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic growing?+

BLS projects a -14.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 1,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

5 institutions in Ohio 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 milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Mill Operator, Machine Operator, CNC Mill Operator (Computerized Numerical Control Mill Operator), CNC Licensed Mill Operator (Computer Numerical Control Licensed Mill Operator) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 51-4035.

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in other statesCaliforniaSouth CarolinaTexasTennesseeColoradoOklahomaMississippiUtah

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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