Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders vs Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic: $41K vs $48K Median Pay

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders vs Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic: what changes?

Consider Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders if you want to operate or tend equipment such as cooling and freezing units, refrigerators, batch freezers, and freezing tunnels, to cool or freeze products, food, blood plasma, and chemicals. Consider Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic if you would rather set up, operate, or tend machines to extrude or draw thermoplastic or metal materials into tubes, rods, hoses, wire, bars, or structural shapes. Both list high school diploma or equivalent; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders and Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders

National median pay (2025): $41,330
Route into the job: High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Record temperatures, amounts of materials processed, or test results on report forms.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 800

Know before you choose

This is a small national occupation (7,700 jobs in 2025), so location and employer concentration can matter more than the national median suggests.

See the full Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders brief

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

National median pay (2025): $47,720
Route into the job: High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.
Work to investigate: Measure and examine extruded products to locate defects and to check for conformance to specifications, adjusting controls as necessary to alter products.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 5,400

Know before you choose

BLS projects essentially flat employment (0.7%) through 2035. Annual openings mostly reflect replacement, not a rapidly expanding field.

See the full Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic brief

How the national numbers differ

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic has the edge on annual openings

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is at 5,400 annual openings, compared with 800 annual openings for Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders.

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders has the edge on projected growth

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders is at 5.9% projected growth, compared with 0.7% projected growth for Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic.

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic has the edge on median pay

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is at $47,720, compared with $41,330 for Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders.

39.8/ 100

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders

43.8/ 100

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

Detailed evidence

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders vs Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Dimension	Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders	Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
Median pay (2025)	$41,330	$47,720
Pay percentile	12.7 percentile	25.6 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	5.9%	0.7%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	800	5,400
2025 employment	7,700	60,900
How you qualify	High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing	High school diploma or equivalent; More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing
O*NET preparation group	Job Zone 2	Job Zone 2
Related work experience	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
On-the-job training	More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.	More than one month and up to 12 months of on-the-job training, in addition to any qualifying education or licensing.

The table reports national benchmarks and reviewed work descriptions. It does not rate personal suitability, job security, or physical safety.

Read Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders brief Read Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic brief

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders vs Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

How the national numbers differ

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic has the edge on annual openings

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders has the edge on projected growth

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic has the edge on median pay

Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders vs Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

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