Journeyman Tool and Die Maker Salary: Apprentice to Master by Year

The journeyman tool and die maker salary sits at $61,280 per year ($29.46/hr) as of May 2023, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program. That number is the national median. Your actual pay depends on your tier in the progression, your geography, your specialty, and whether you are working in a job shop or a captive OEM tool room.

The Three-Tier Progression: What Each Stage Actually Pays

Tool and die is a structured trade. You move from apprentice to journeyman to master, and each tier carries a distinct pay band. The BLS median covers all experience levels in the occupation, so it blends the low end of the range with the high end. Breaking it out by tier gives you a cleaner picture of how much do tool and die makers make at each stage.

Tier	Typical Years in Trade	Hourly Range (US)	Annual Range (US)
Apprentice (Year 1 to 2)	0 to 2	$14.00 to $18.50	$29,120 to $38,480
Apprentice (Year 3 to 4)	2 to 4	$18.50 to $23.00	$38,480 to $47,840
Journeyman (Newly Certified)	4 to 6	$24.00 to $31.00	$49,920 to $64,480
Journeyman (Mid-Career)	6 to 12	$30.00 to $38.00	$62,400 to $79,040
Master / Lead Toolmaker	12+	$38.00 to $52.00+	$79,040 to $108,160+

The BLS 90th percentile for tool and die makers as of May 2023 was $87,250 per year. That upper band belongs almost entirely to master-level toolmakers and working tool room supervisors in high-cost markets. The gap between a first-year apprentice and a seasoned master is roughly $50,000 to $70,000 annually in base pay alone.

Tool and Die Apprenticeship Pay: How the Step System Works

Most formal tool and die apprenticeship programs run four to five years and are registered with the US Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship. Tool and die apprenticeship pay is structured as a percentage of the journeyman scale, typically starting at 50% to 60% in Year 1 and stepping up 5% to 10% per year. A shop paying its journeymen $32/hr would start an apprentice at $16.00 to $19.20/hr.

Union programs through the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers often set the step percentages in the collective bargaining agreement. Non-union OEM tool rooms and job shops set their own scales, but the percentage-of-journeyman structure is nearly universal because it ties apprentice raises to whatever the journeyman rate negotiates to. If the journeyman rate goes up 3%, apprentice pay goes up 3% automatically.

Apprentices in formal programs also accrue paid related instruction hours, typically 144 hours per year of classroom or online technical training that counts toward the 8,000-hour program completion requirement set by most state apprenticeship standards. Those hours are usually paid at straight time, which adds $2,000 to $3,500 to annual apprenticeship earnings depending on the hourly rate.

Journeyman Tool and Die Salary by State and Metro Area

Geography moves the needle more than almost any other variable. The BLS May 2023 OEWS data shows a $20.00/hr spread between the lowest-paying states and the highest. Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois dominate employment volume. California and Washington dominate pay rates.

State / Metro Area	Annual Mean Wage (BLS 2023)	Relative to National Median
Michigan (statewide)	$62,410	+1.8%
Ohio (statewide)	$58,900	-3.9%
Illinois (statewide)	$64,320	+4.9%
California (statewide)	$72,870	+18.9%
Washington (statewide)	$70,140	+14.5%
Texas (statewide)	$56,820	-7.3%
South Carolina (statewide)	$51,490	-16.0%

Metro-level data tells a sharper story. The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro shows a mean wage of $66,150. The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro comes in at $82,340, driven by defense and semiconductor tooling demand. Rural shop rates in the Southeast often run $22.00 to $26.00/hr for a freshly certified tool and die journeyman, which is below the national median by a meaningful margin. Cost of living partially offsets that gap, but not entirely.

How Shop Size and Industry Sector Change the Number

A tool and die journeyman at a Tier 1 automotive supplier in Michigan earns a different base rate than the same journeyman at a 12-person job shop in rural Indiana. Shop size and industry sector are the two biggest non-geographic pay drivers in this trade.

Large OEM captive tool rooms, especially unionized ones in auto and aerospace, typically pay $2.00 to $5.00/hr above the market median and layer on defined-benefit pensions, full medical, and paid skilled trades training. Job shops pay closer to market but frequently offer more overtime. At 10 hours of overtime per week at 1.5x on a $30.00/hr base, a journeyman grosses an additional $23,400 per year, pushing total cash compensation to roughly $86,000 before benefits.

Industry sector also matters. The BLS breaks out tool and die employment by NAICS code. Motor vehicle parts manufacturing employs the largest share of the trade and pays a mean of $63,710. Aerospace product and parts manufacturing pays a mean of $71,420. Medical device tooling, which demands tighter tolerances, more EDM work, and experience with 420SS and S7 steel, typically commands a 10% to 18% premium over automotive tooling rates in the same metro.

Specialty Skills That Move the Needle Past the Median

Not all journeymen earn the same rate. Specific technical skills command consistent premiums because the supply of qualified people is thin relative to the work available.

• Wire EDM and sinker EDM programming: $2.00 to $4.00/hr above base journeyman rate in most markets
• High-cavitation multi-shot injection mold building: premium varies but commonly 8% to 12% above standard tool room rate
• CAD/CAM proficiency in Mastercam, Siemens NX, or SolidWorks: often required for senior journeyman roles and adds $1.50 to $3.00/hr
• Progressive die design and build: strong demand in metal stamping sectors, median closer to $68,000 to $74,000 nationally
• Mold repair and engineering change order work on hardened H13 and P20 steel: valued skill set in captive OEM tool rooms

At MoldMinds, we see this gap directly when we staff domestic tool room support for offshore mold programs. The journeymen who can read a cooling circuit, re-time an ejection sequence, and program a 3-axis path to weld-repair a gate area are not the same as journeymen who only run established jobs. The market has already priced that difference in.

Hourly vs. Salary: Which Structure Pays More Over a Career

Most tool and die work is compensated hourly, not on a salary basis. That structure matters over a full career. Hourly workers receive 1.5x overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act for hours beyond 40 per week. Salaried exempt workers do not. A journeyman converting from $32.00/hr hourly to a $70,000 salaried role looks like a raise on paper. At 50 hours per week average, the hourly worker grosses $83,200 before benefits. The salaried worker earns $70,000 flat.

Salaried tool room roles carry title upgrades and sometimes better retirement contributions, but total cash compensation for high-overtime shops almost always favors the hourly structure. The break-even point sits around 42 to 44 hours per week average. Below that, a salaried offer at $70,000 beats an hourly rate of $32.00. Above it, the hourly structure wins. Run the math for your specific shop before making a move either direction.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do tool and die makers make in their first year out of apprenticeship?

A newly certified journeyman in most US markets earns $24.00 to $28.00/hr, or roughly $49,920 to $58,240 annually at straight time. Geographic location and employer type push that range in both directions. Michigan auto suppliers and California aerospace shops sit at the upper end; Southeast job shops sit at the lower end.

What is the difference in tool and die apprenticeship pay between union and non-union programs?

Union apprenticeship programs generally start higher and step up on a fixed schedule tied to a collective bargaining agreement. Non-union programs offer more flexibility in starting rate and advancement timing, but the floor is often lower. The gap at Year 1 can be $2.00 to $4.00/hr in the same metro area, though non-union shops sometimes close that gap with profit sharing or shorter apprenticeship periods.

Does the journeyman tool and die salary vary by the type of tooling they build?

It does. Injection mold builders, progressive die builders, and fixture makers all carry the same journeyman title but operate in different pay bands. Medical device mold work and aerospace tooling consistently pay more than commodity stamping or simple injection mold maintenance. The premium is real and runs 8% to 18% depending on the market.

Can a tool and die journeyman earn six figures?

A tool and die journeyman in a high-cost state with strong overtime, specialty EDM skills, and shift differential can reach $100,000 to $115,000 in total cash compensation. The BLS 90th percentile for the occupation sits at $87,250 in base wages. Overtime and shift premiums layer on top of that for hourly workers. Master-level toolmakers and working tool room leads reach this range more consistently than mid-career journeymen.

Is tool and die still a viable career given offshore tooling volume?

The offshore tooling market, including our own project work at MoldMinds, generates domestic demand for journeymen who can validate, repair, and modify imported molds. That work requires the same core skills as building new tooling and often pays at or above standard journeyman rates because the scope is specialized. BLS projects an 8% decline in overall tool and die employment through 2032, but the decline is concentrated in low-skill, high-volume production work, not in complex mold building and repair.

If you are evaluating where domestic tool room staffing fits into an offshore mold program, use our injection molding consulting service to map out the right split between offshore build and domestic validation and maintenance labor.