PLC Programmer Salary 2026: BLS Pay Benchmarks
There is no dedicated BLS occupation for PLC programmers. Use these May 2025 wage anchors and a duty-based worksheet to evaluate a PLC job offer.
Quick answer: how much does a PLC programmer make?
There is no single official U.S. “PLC programmer salary.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does not list PLC programmer as a distinct occupation in its May 2025 wage table. Median pay for four plausible, duty-based comparison occupations ranged from $66,120 to $120,640. Match your actual responsibilities—not the job title—to the closest benchmark before judging an offer.
| Closest BLS occupation | SOC | Mean annual wage | Median annual wage | Median hourly wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial engineers | 17-2112 | $109,900 | $102,440 | $49.25 |
| Electrical engineers | 17-2071 | $125,100 | $120,640 | $58.00 |
| Electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians | 17-3023 | $80,680 | $78,190 | $37.59 |
| Industrial engineering technologists and technicians | 17-3026 | $70,700 | $66,120 | $31.79 |
These are national May 2025 BLS benchmarks, not claimed PLC-programmer averages. The annual medians shown above are the published median hourly wages multiplied by 2,080 hours. Your appropriate comparison depends on the work you perform, your location, travel and callout requirements, overtime eligibility, and the complete compensation package.
Evidence and methodology
Evidence checked: July 25, 2026
Wage reference period: May 2025
Primary source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Table 1
This guide deliberately avoids publishing a made-up national “PLC programmer average,” state percentiles, experience bands, certification premiums, or industry uplifts. BLS wage data is organized by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC), and employers place PLC work under several different titles. A role called “PLC programmer” may be technician-level maintenance work at one plant and engineering-level controls design at another.
We therefore use four official occupations as comparison anchors:
- Industrial engineers when the role centers on production systems, process improvement, manufacturing integration, capacity, quality, or line performance.
- Electrical engineers when it includes electrical-system design, controls architecture, engineering calculations, specifications, and engineering responsibility.
- Electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians when it emphasizes installation, testing, calibration, commissioning, instrumentation, or support under engineering direction.
- Industrial engineering technologists and technicians when it emphasizes manufacturing methods, workflow, production data, layouts, or implementation support.
This is a classification aid, not a claim that every PLC programmer belongs in one of these occupations. Read the job description and compare its primary duties with the linked BLS occupation descriptions.
Why the old “one number” approach is misleading
A salary aggregator may group together jobs titled PLC programmer, controls technician, controls engineer, automation specialist, electrical engineer, and system integrator. Those jobs can differ materially in education requirements, engineering responsibility, travel, overtime, industry, and scope. Combining them creates a precise-looking number that may not describe the offer in front of you.
The national BLS figures also have limits:
- They cover all workers in each occupation, not PLC specialists alone.
- They are national estimates, so they do not represent a specific city or state.
- They describe wages, not the value of health insurance, retirement contributions, paid leave, per diem, bonuses, or a company vehicle.
- Mean wages can be pulled upward by high earners. For an individual offer, the median is usually the more understandable starting anchor.
- Neither mean nor median automatically represents entry-level, senior, or contract pay.
Use the table as a defensible baseline, then add local and job-specific evidence.
Which salary benchmark fits your PLC role?
The fastest way to choose a benchmark is to ignore the title for a moment and classify the work.
Engineer-oriented PLC role
An engineering benchmark may be more relevant when the position expects you to:
- own controls architecture or electrical design decisions;
- write functional specifications and design standards;
- select controllers, networks, safety systems, drives, and instrumentation;
- perform engineering calculations or approve technical designs;
- lead capital projects, vendors, factory acceptance testing, and site acceptance;
- integrate plant systems and be accountable for performance after startup.
Compare the balance of duties with the BLS descriptions for industrial engineers and electrical and electronics engineers. Do not select the higher benchmark simply because the job includes programming; use the occupation whose work most closely resembles the actual role.
Technologist- or technician-oriented PLC role
A technologist or technician benchmark may be more relevant when the position primarily involves:
- troubleshooting machinery and replacing failed control components;
- modifying existing ladder logic under an established standard;
- panel checks, I/O checkout, loop checks, calibration, or commissioning support;
- maintaining backups and documenting field changes;
- assisting engineers with testing, measurements, drawings, and implementation;
- supporting production shifts and responding to equipment faults.
Compare the job with the BLS profiles for electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians and industrial engineering technologists and technicians.
Mixed controls role
Many real controls jobs are mixed. A plant role may combine maintenance callouts, new machine projects, HMI work, networking, safety validation, and vendor management. In that case:
- List the five duties expected to consume the most time.
- Estimate the share of the role assigned to each duty.
- Select the closest BLS occupation for the majority of the work.
- Keep one adjacent occupation as a secondary comparison.
- Explain the mixed scope when negotiating rather than presenting a single benchmark as definitive.
If the employer cannot explain the role's expected split between support, project delivery, and engineering ownership, that ambiguity is itself an offer risk.
How to research PLC programmer pay in your state or city
The table above is national. For a local offer, build a small evidence pack rather than applying an unsupported state multiplier.
1. Start with the nearest BLS occupation
Use the BLS state occupational wage tables to find the same SOC for your state. If the job is in a large metropolitan area, use BLS metropolitan-area data when available. Keep the occupation, data period, geography, and source URL with every number you record.
2. Compare duties in current job postings
Search for genuinely comparable roles in the target commuting area. Include adjacent titles such as:
- PLC programmer;
- controls engineer;
- automation engineer;
- controls technician;
- electrical controls engineer;
- system integrator;
- instrumentation and controls technician.
Do not combine every result. Exclude postings with materially different education, travel, shift, management, or licensing requirements. Record only visible employer salary ranges, and note when a range excludes bonus, overtime, or benefits.
3. Separate location from working conditions
Two offers in the same city can deserve different compensation because one includes plant shutdowns, night callouts, or extensive travel. Record these separately:
| Offer condition | What to document |
|---|---|
| Scheduled hours | Standard week, shift pattern, compressed schedule |
| Overtime | Eligibility, approval rules, typical frequency, rate or time-off policy |
| On-call | Rotation, response time, minimum callout, standby compensation |
| Travel | Expected percentage, weekend travel, travel-time pay, per diem |
| Commissioning | Typical duration, nights, shutdowns, international work |
| Remote work | Actual remote tasks versus required plant presence |
| Safety responsibility | Design, validation, documentation, or maintenance scope |
4. Date every comparison
Job-posting ranges can change quickly and may disappear. Save the employer, title, location, URL, date viewed, and key duties. A dated comparison set is more credible than an undated screenshot or a generic salary page.
PLC programmer salary by experience
BLS does not publish entry, mid-level, and senior pay bands for “PLC programmer,” so this guide does not invent them. Experience still matters, but scope and independence are more useful than years alone.
Entry-level or supervised work
Typical signals include working from established templates, making reviewed logic changes, assisting with I/O checkout, and escalating safety or architecture decisions. Compare the duties with the technician/technologist occupations first, then check local postings with similar supervision and education requirements.
Independent project delivery
The role may include developing complete sequences, HMI screens, alarm handling, network configuration, FAT/SAT documentation, and commissioning with limited supervision. At this stage, determine whether the employer treats the work as engineering, technologist work, or a hybrid. The job description and accountability matter more than a generic “three-to-five years” label.
Senior or lead scope
Senior value is usually visible in responsibility: architecture, standards, safety lifecycle work, technical review, client leadership, mentoring, estimation, and ownership of difficult startups. Compare an offer with local engineer benchmarks only when the duties support that comparison. A senior title without decision authority or project ownership is not automatically equivalent to an engineering occupation.
Management
Once a position is primarily responsible for hiring, budgets, department performance, and staff management, a programmer benchmark may no longer be appropriate. Compare it with the relevant management occupation and local management postings.
Skills that can strengthen an offer—without assuming a fixed premium
It is tempting to assign a dollar value to every platform or certification. There is no reliable national BLS dataset showing that a particular PLC brand, safety credential, or programming language adds a fixed amount to PLC programmer pay.
Instead, test whether a skill has value in your market:
- Count how often it appears in comparable local postings.
- Note whether it is required, preferred, or merely mentioned.
- Compare posted ranges for otherwise similar roles.
- Ask recruiters which requirement is limiting the candidate pool.
- Use competing written offers, not an online “premium,” as your strongest evidence.
Skills that often change the scope of a controls role include functional safety, industrial networking, motion control, batch systems, SCADA/HMI integration, cybersecurity, regulated validation, and multi-platform support. They justify a stronger negotiation case when you can connect them to responsibilities the employer needs—not simply because you hold a certificate.
For platform practice before an interview, the PLC interview-prep simulator provides graded programming and diagnostic exercises.
Compare total compensation, not base salary alone
A higher base salary can lose to a lower offer once you account for unpaid travel, expensive benefits, weak retirement contributions, or unpredictable callouts. Conversely, a demanding commissioning job may pay more cash but provide less control over your time.
Copy this worksheet for each offer:
| Compensation item | Offer A | Offer B | How to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base salary or guaranteed annual wages | Written offer | ||
| Guaranteed shift or on-call allowance | Written policy | ||
| Realistic bonus—not the maximum | Plan document and payout history | ||
| Expected overtime pay | Classification, rate, and typical hours | ||
| Employer retirement contribution | Summary plan description | ||
| Employer-paid health premium | Benefits enrollment sheet | ||
| Deductible and out-of-pocket exposure | Health plan summary | ||
| Paid leave and holidays | Employee handbook | ||
| Training or certification budget | Written annual allowance | ||
| Vehicle, mileage, travel time, and per diem | Travel policy | ||
| Relocation or sign-on payment | Repayment terms | ||
| Your unreimbursed annual costs | Commute, tools, insurance, travel |
Then calculate:
Guaranteed cash = base pay + guaranteed allowances
Expected cash = guaranteed cash + probability-adjusted bonus + realistic overtime
Estimated total value = expected cash + benefits you would otherwise purchase − unreimbursed costs
Do not value a discretionary bonus at its stated maximum. Ask what percentage of the target was actually paid in recent years and whether you must still be employed on the payout date.
Questions to ask before accepting a PLC job
Compensation discussions are more productive when the job's hidden workload is explicit.
Work schedule and overtime
- Is the position hourly, salaried non-exempt, or salaried exempt?
- How is travel time treated?
- How many shutdowns or weekend startups occurred in the last year?
- Is compensatory time available after commissioning?
- Who approves overtime, and how is emergency work recorded?
Employment classification has legal consequences, so ask HR for the written classification and policy rather than relying on an interviewer's shorthand.
On-call and support
- How many people share the rotation?
- What systems are supported after hours?
- What response time is required?
- Is remote diagnosis possible before traveling to the plant?
- Is standby time or a minimum callout paid?
Travel and commissioning
- What percentage of the role required travel in the previous 12 months?
- Does that percentage include local customer visits?
- Are weekends abroad treated as work, leave, or neither?
- Who pays for visas, insurance, mobile data, and ground transport?
- What happens when a startup runs longer than planned?
Role scope
- Who owns electrical design and safety validation?
- Are you modifying existing standards or creating them?
- How much time is maintenance support versus project engineering?
- Which PLC, HMI, drive, robot, and network platforms are actually installed?
- What would success in the first six months look like?
The answers help you choose the right wage benchmark and expose conditions that a base salary alone cannot capture.
Contract PLC programmer rates versus employee salary
Do not compare an hourly contract rate with an employee's salary by multiplying it by 2,080. Contractors may have unpaid sales time, gaps between projects, self-funded benefits, insurance, tools, accounting, and travel administration.
Use this break-even formula:
Required contract revenue = desired employee-equivalent cash + replacement benefits + business costs + tax/insurance allowance + unpaid-time reserve
Required hourly rate = required contract revenue ÷ realistic billable hours
Use billable hours from your own contract history or a conservative project pipeline—not every working hour in a year. Clarify whether the quoted rate includes travel, expenses, commissioning overtime, and payment delays. Consult a qualified tax professional for your structure and jurisdiction.
Contracting can be attractive when you have repeat clients and control over scope. Employment can be more valuable when you need supervised learning, stable benefits, paid training, or predictable income. Neither arrangement is automatically better.
A defensible salary-negotiation process
1. Classify the job
Select the nearest occupation using the actual duties. Keep the job description and mark the phrases that support your choice.
2. Collect local evidence
Add the relevant state or metro BLS figure and comparable, current employer-posted ranges. Remove jobs that differ substantially in scope.
3. Document your evidence of value
Use outcomes you can support: successful startups, reduced recurring faults, validated safety work, standard libraries, training delivered, or projects completed. Do not disclose confidential employer data.
4. Price the working conditions
Document travel, shift, callout, overtime, and benefits. Ask for missing policies before naming a final target.
5. Make a specific request
A concise response is stronger than a long speech:
“The role combines independent controls design, commissioning, and on-call support. The local engineering benchmark and comparable posted roles support a higher base. Can you move the base to [amount], or improve the package through paid overtime, additional leave, or a guaranteed review?”
Use an amount grounded in your evidence pack. If base pay is fixed, negotiate elements that solve real problems: overtime treatment, travel time, callout minimums, training, leave, sign-on support, or a written salary review after defined milestones.
6. Compare the written offer
Do not rely on verbal descriptions of bonus, remote work, travel, or review timing. Ask for the final terms in writing, then use the worksheet above.
Common PLC salary questions
What is the average PLC programmer salary in 2026?
There is no official BLS average for PLC programmers because the title does not have its own BLS occupation. In the May 2025 national data, mean annual wages for four related occupations ran from $70,700 for industrial engineering technologists and technicians to $125,100 for electrical engineers. Use the occupation that matches the work.
What is the median PLC programmer salary?
BLS does not publish one. The closest national medians in this guide range from $66,120 to $120,640, but they describe four broader occupations. They should not be averaged together.
What does an entry-level PLC programmer earn?
No official national entry-level PLC wage exists. Compare the role's duties and education requirements with the nearest BLS technologist, technician, or engineer occupation, then use local wage data and employer-posted ranges for genuinely comparable entry-level roles.
Which states pay PLC programmers the most?
A trustworthy answer requires selecting a comparable occupation first. Use BLS state data for that SOC and current employer-posted ranges. A state ranking built by mixing PLC programmers, technicians, and engineers would create false precision.
Do PLC programmers earn more than electricians?
Sometimes, but the titles alone are not enough for a valid comparison. Compare the exact location, licensing, overtime, union coverage, travel, shift, and responsibilities. An hourly electrician with overtime may have higher annual cash than a salaried controls role, while an engineering-scope controls position may have a higher base.
Does a degree increase PLC programmer pay?
BLS data does not isolate a degree premium for PLC programmers. A degree may qualify someone for engineering-scope roles that have different wage benchmarks, but experience, duties, location, and employer requirements still matter.
Which PLC certification pays the most?
No official national dataset supports a fixed salary premium for a specific PLC or automation certification. Measure demand in comparable postings and ask employers whether the credential changes eligibility, responsibility, or pay.
Can PLC programmers work remotely?
Program development, simulation, documentation, and code review can be remote, but installation, I/O checkout, commissioning, and physical troubleshooting require site access. Verify actual travel and plant-presence expectations rather than relying on a “remote” label.
Is PLC programming a good career?
It can be a strong fit for people who enjoy software, electrical systems, machinery, and field problem-solving. Evaluate the work itself as carefully as the salary: schedule, travel, safety responsibility, learning support, and advancement differ widely by employer.
Key takeaways
- BLS does not publish a dedicated PLC programmer occupation or salary.
- May 2025 national median anchors for four related occupations range from $66,120 to $120,640.
- Choose the benchmark by primary duties, not by whichever occupation pays the most.
- Replace generic state and experience tables with current local BLS data and comparable employer-posted ranges.
- Compare overtime, callouts, travel, benefits, and training alongside base pay.
- Treat certification and industry “premiums” as hypotheses until local evidence supports them.
For broader career planning, see the PLC programmer career guide, how to become a PLC programmer, and SCADA engineer salary guide.
Official sources
- BLS: National employment and wage data by occupation, May 2025
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Industrial engineers
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Electrical and electronics engineers
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Industrial engineering technologists and technicians
- BLS: State occupational employment and wage estimates
Editorial note: This page provides labor-market research, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Wage estimates are historical reference points, and individual offers vary.
