Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

Highest risk
High Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

Maintenance Workers, Machinery
53% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better
25.2 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Fits operators who troubleshoot coating equipment and can add mechanical maintenance training.

Fiberglass Laminators and Fabricators
51% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Higher growth
27.2 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses resin, coatings, surface finish, curing, sanding, PPE, and production-quality habits.

Automotive Body and Related Repairers
49% automation risk | Moderate Risk
28.8 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Fits vehicle painters who know refinishing, surface prep, fillers, panels, and shop repair flow.

Painters, Construction and Maintenance
49% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Higher growth More jobs
28.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Applies coating preparation, spraying, rolling, masking, cleanup, and safety habits in building maintenance.

Furniture Finishers
57% automation risk | Moderate Risk
21.2 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Transfers sanding, staining, coatings, visual inspection, and repair of surface defects to wood products.

Compare this job with others
or search for another job
Share your results with friends and family.

Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
3.4/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

78% (High Risk)

High Risk (61-80%): This occupation shows a significant risk of end-to-end replacement by automation. Many core parts of the role may be structured, repeatable, software-driven, or physically predictable enough for AI, machines, or robotic systems to take over. If you work in this area, it may be worth exploring safer related careers or moving towards more human-centred responsibilities.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 9 votes

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Pay & outlook

Wages

Low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders was $47,590 ($23 per hour).

The median annual wage for Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders was 3.9% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders' job openings is expected to rise 0.7% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 159,500 people employed as 'Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders' within the United States.

This represents around 0.10% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 966 people are employed as 'Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders'.

People also viewed

Actors Graphic Designers Computer Programmers Lawyers Web Developers

What people are saying (0)

Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000

Job description

Set up, operate, or tend spraying or rolling machines to coat or paint any of a wide variety of products, including glassware, cloth, ceramics, metal, plastic, paper, or wood, with lacquer, silver, copper, rubber, varnish, glaze, enamel, oil, or rust-proofing materials. Includes painters of transportation vehicles such as painters in auto body repair facilities.

O*NET-SOC code: 51-9124.00