Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers job market in Indiana

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Indiana.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 86.14% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers earn in Indiana

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$47,900Indiana
Middle 50% of published wages
$38,740 – $59,980
U.S. median annual wage
$48,570
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Indiana

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers, compared with the Indiana median of $47,900.

Indiana median$47,900
Bloomington, IN$60,360+26.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$46,800 – $62,170Published employment640
Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN$49,460+3.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$37,900 – $63,100Published employment680
Columbus, IN$49,030+2.4% vs. state
Middle 50%$43,290 – $61,720Published employment900
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN$48,340+0.9% vs. state
Middle 50%$40,110 – $60,250Published employment6,560
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN$48,230+0.7% vs. state
Middle 50%$41,620 – $60,340Published employment23,080
Fort Wayne, IN$48,120+0.5% vs. state
Middle 50%$38,880 – $58,000Published employment1,530
View 9 more published metro areas
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN$48,000+0.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$39,050 – $60,760Published employment4,040
Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN$47,980+0.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$37,270 – $62,020Published employment6,460
Evansville, IN$47,970+0.1% vs. state
Middle 50%$38,460 – $62,390Published employment980
Elkhart-Goshen, IN$47,950+0.1% vs. state
Middle 50%$38,940 – $57,760Published employment1,970
South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI$46,900−2.1% vs. state
Middle 50%$39,230 – $57,440Published employment720
Terre Haute, IN$46,780−2.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$45,460 – $59,330Published employment500
Kokomo, IN$45,720−4.6% vs. state
Middle 50%$38,010 – $60,080Published employment130
Muncie, IN$45,670−4.7% vs. state
Middle 50%$35,180 – $55,570Published employment230
Michigan City-La Porte, IN$45,370−5.3% vs. state
Middle 50%$38,830 – $50,770Published employment380

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Indiana median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in Indiana’s weighted industry mix.

-0.4%Industry employmentIndiana industry employmentU.S. -1.0%vs. -1.0% U.S.
-0.1%Establishments in weighted industriesIndiana establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +1.5%vs. +1.5% U.S.
+6.0%Avg. weekly industry wageIndiana avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +5.1% · not occupation payvs. +5.1% U.S. · not occupation pay
+0.6 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 51,159 represented establishments, 82.78% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Indiana

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.

The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market

Higher pay and a larger employment market appear in different metros in this Indiana comparison. Among 12 metro estimates with usable employment and median-pay figures in OEWS May 2025, Bloomington, IN has the highest median annual pay, $60,360, and an employment estimate of 640. Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN has the largest employment estimate at 6,460, with median pay of $47,980. The pay premium is 25.8%; employment size describes existing jobs, not available vacancies.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Some metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.

This occupation is more concentrated in the state

OEWS May 2025 places Indiana's share of employment in inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers at 2.02 times the corresponding national share. The published location quotient expresses that comparison. The state estimate is 24,790 jobs, 4.1% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 7.74 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Employment concentration does not establish future growth; it describes employment share, not current hiring.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

OEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.

Industry groups are pulling in opposite directions

The overall industry figure masks differing movements among the leading industry groups associated with this occupation in Indiana. The groups examined cover 84.2% of its national industry mix. In January to March 2026, year-over-year employment changed +1.1% in Professional and business services and -0.8% in Manufacturing.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • Indiana · 2026 Q1-0.4%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-1.0%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly Indiana industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterIndianaCoverage
2024 Q2-1.3%100%
2024 Q3-1.5%100%
2024 Q4-1.3%100%
2025 Q1-1.2%98.45%
2025 Q2-0.9%100%
2025 Q3-0.7%100%
2025 Q40.0%100%
2026 Q1-0.4%86.14%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows Indiana’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
-1.0%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers Work

The occupation mix determines which Indiana industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the Indiana Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Manufacturing64.4%-0.8%9,510$1,919
Professional and business services18.4%+1.1%41,649$1,567
Trade, transportation, and utilities11.5%Not published43,609$1,163
Other services1.4%+0.9%14,658$917
Construction1.2%Not published17,424$1,614
Mining and logging0.8%Not published392$1,632

Which industries are growing?

2 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive Indiana employment change are listed.

  • Professional and business services+1.1%
  • Other services+0.9%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current Indiana context

Current Indiana Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in Indiana. They are not Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · Indiana

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

96.0Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
-4.0%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+0.2%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 202694.78
Jul 31, 202694.73
Aug 7, 202694.02
Aug 14, 202693.66
Aug 21, 202693.42
Aug 28, 202694.23
Sep 4, 202694.81
Sep 11, 202695.62
Sep 18, 202696.02
Sep 25, 202695.84
Oct 2, 202695.34
Oct 9, 202696.05
Oct 16, 202695.43
Oct 23, 202695.99

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Statewide layoff-notice filings

Indiana statewide

7 notices in this source

Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.

What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Indiana’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.

Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. Indiana’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.

Indiana Department of Workforce Development About WARN data

Source last checked

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Indiana FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in Indiana?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Indiana industries weighted to Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers changed -0.4% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -1.0% nationwide.

Are wages for Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers rising in Indiana?

QCEW does not publish pay for Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +6.0% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this Indiana industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 86.14% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 86.14% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers
SOC code
51-9061
State
Indiana
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
-0.4%State data coverage 86.14%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
-1.0%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
+0.6 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
-0.1%State data coverage 86.14%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+6.0%State data coverage 98.45%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/inspectors-testers-sorters-samplers-and-weighers/indiana#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

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