Trade licensing overview · machinist
How machinist licensing works — Illinois
How this trade is regulated in Illinois. none-in-pilot-states The framework below describes the national pathway most machinists in Illinois follow.
Machinists are not state-licensed in the United States. Competency is demonstrated through NIMS (National Institute for Metalworking Skills) credentials, employer-administered machining and inspection tests, or completion of a DOL-registered Machinist apprenticeship.
Machinist wages in Illinois · BLS OES A01 2024
Wages are state-level annual figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program (A01 2024). Specific machinist earnings in Illinois vary by metro area, employer type, union membership, and years of experience. Verify the current state and metro figures on the BLS OES site (bls.gov/oes).
What this trade actually looks like in Illinois
Illinois machining is built on heavy-equipment manufacturing (Caterpillar, John Deere, Navistar), aerospace and defense suppliers in the Chicago metro, food and beverage equipment, and a broad job-shop base inherited from the state's industrial base. Tool-and-die and supplier work remains denser here than in most southern states, particularly in the Chicago-Rockford corridor.
Where they work
The Chicago metro (Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane counties) holds the densest job-shop and aerospace-supplier cluster, with Boeing's Defense, Space & Security operations and a long supplier tail. Rockford and the Stateline area host historic precision and aerospace machining (Woodward, Collins Aerospace). Peoria and Decatur anchor Caterpillar heavy-equipment work; Moline anchors John Deere on the Iowa border. Champaign-Urbana has research-instrument shops. Quad Cities holds defense work tied to Rock Island Arsenal.
Pay context
BLS OES reports an Illinois median of $56,700 for machinists. Chicago-area tool-and-die and aerospace-supplier shops commonly pay above this median; downstate Caterpillar and Deere supplier work sits in a similar band. Cost of living in Chicago and property taxes statewide cut into the headline number; downstate housing remains affordable by national standards.
Training pathway
College of DuPage, Harper College, Triton College, Elgin Community College, and Rock Valley College (Rockford) all run NIMS-aligned machining programs in the metro. Richland Community College (Decatur), Illinois Central (Peoria), and Black Hawk College (Moline) serve downstate. Illinois has an active registered-apprenticeship system; the Technology & Manufacturing Association (TMA) runs a recognized journey-level apprenticeship in the Chicago area. IAM Local 701 and others represent some shops.
Considerations
If you want tool-and-die, supplier-shop, or heavy-equipment machining with a real apprenticeship pathway, Illinois is one of the deeper Midwest markets. If you want sunbelt cost structure, Chicago-area housing and property tax can cut into nominal wages. Workers' Compensation and Department of Labor enforcement are meaningfully different from neighboring Indiana and Wisconsin; verify employer practices before accepting an offer.
Illinois machinist snapshot
| MSA | Employed | Median wage |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 10,500 | $57,470 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | 5,640 | $60,850 |
| Rockford, IL | 1,730 | $49,930 |
| Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL | 580 | $60,530 |
| Peoria, IL | 480 | $50,410 |
STATE LICENSE STATUS
No pilot state (TX, CA, FL, NY, IL) issues a person-level machinist license. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies machinists under SOC 51-4041 and lists typical entry through long-term on-the-job training, apprenticeship, or community-college machine-tool programs (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/production/machinists-and-tool-and-die-makers.htm). Because there is no statutory license, hiring shops typically verify skill through a bench test, print-reading and GD&T questions, and (increasingly) NIMS credential records (https://www.nims-skills.org). ITAR-regulated aerospace and defense shops add employer-specific background and citizenship checks per 22 CFR 120-130; those are job requirements, not state licenses.
NIMS CREDENTIALS
NIMS (National Institute for Metalworking Skills) issues 52 stackable, ANSI-accredited credentials covering Machining Level I, II, and III; CNC Milling and CNC Turning Operator and Programmer; Tool & Die; Mold Making; Stamping; Grinding; and Industrial Technology Maintenance (https://www.nims-skills.org/credentialing). Each credential requires an online theory exam plus a performance/part-inspection component verified by a NIMS-credentialed evaluator (https://www.nims-skills.org). Machining Level I is the recognized entry credential and is used by many registered apprenticeships as a first-year benchmark. NIMS credentials are accepted as Related Technical Instruction (RTI) evidence by many DOL-registered Machinist programs (https://www.apprenticeship.gov). The International Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (IMTMA, https://www.imtma.org) and the National Tooling and Machining Association (NTMA, https://www.ntma.org) both reference NIMS as the industry-standard skills benchmark.
CNC PROGRAMMING
CNC (computer numerical control) programming is the core skill for production machining. G-code and M-code fundamentals (ISO 6983 / EIA RS-274) are the baseline language read by Fanuc, Siemens, Haas, and Mazak controls (https://www.iso.org/standard/34608.html). Most production programs are generated in CAM software: Mastercam (https://www.mastercam.com), Autodesk Fusion 360 (https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360), and SolidWorks CAM (https://www.solidworks.com) are the most commonly listed in BLS machinist job postings (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/production/machinists-and-tool-and-die-makers.htm). 5-axis simultaneous programming is typical in aerospace structural and impeller work and is covered by NIMS CNC Milling Programmer Level III (https://www.nims-skills.org/credentialing). NIMS also offers a stand-alone Job Planning, Benchwork, and Layout credential that is a prerequisite for Machining Levels II and III.
APPRENTICESHIP PATHWAY
The U.S. Department of Labor registers Machinist apprenticeships under RAPIDS occupation code 0296 with a typical term of 8,000 on-the-job-training hours plus 576 hours of Related Technical Instruction; Tool and Die Maker (RAPIDS 0295) typically requires 10,000 OJT hours (https://www.apprenticeship.gov/apprenticeship-job-finder). Community-college Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degrees in Machine Tool Technology are a common parallel or substitute pathway and frequently articulate into NIMS credentials. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM, https://goiam.org) represents machinists in parts of aerospace, defense, and rail, though most U.S. production machinists work in non-union shops. NTMA and the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA) both sponsor employer-led apprenticeships registered through DOL.
ADJACENT ROLES
Tool-and-die maker is the most demanding adjacent role, requiring roughly 10,000 OJT hours and tight-tolerance grinding, heat-treat, and fixture-building experience (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/production/machinists-and-tool-and-die-makers.htm). CNC programmer roles split into shop-floor edit/offset programmers and off-line CAM programmers; NIMS CNC Milling and CNC Turning Programmer credentials cover both (https://www.nims-skills.org/credentialing). Manual mill and lathe operator positions are still common in prototype, R&D, and repair shops. Quality-control and gauge inspector roles require formal GD&T training per ASME Y14.5-2018, Dimensioning and Tolerancing (https://www.asme.org/codes-standards/find-codes-standards/y14-5-dimensioning-tolerancing); ASME also publishes Y14.5.1 Mathematical Definition of Dimensioning and Tolerancing Principles. AS9100 (aerospace) and ISO 13485 (medical device) quality-system training are often required before a machinist is cleared to run regulated parts.