Mechatronics technician salary in Wisconsin (2026)

How much does a mechatronics technician make in Wisconsin?

The spread here is tighter than the national one, which is good news if you are starting out. Wisconsin's 10th percentile sits at $59,920, well above the US floor of $47,840. So even entry-level pay in this state clears roughly $28.81 an hour. The middle 50% runs from $63,620 to $84,330, a band of about $20,700. Most techs with a few years of PLC and troubleshooting experience land somewhere inside that.

The top decile is where the ceiling shows up: $104,850, or $50.41 an hour. That tier tends to be the senior controls and automation techs who program drives, run robot cells, and lead maintenance on a plant floor. The location quotient of 1.98 tells you why the whole curve holds up. When a state packs in this many employers competing for the same 580 workers, wages don't sag the way they do in states where the job barely exists.

Wisconsin mechatronics salary: BLS vs Salary.com vs Indeed

Three sources, three different numbers, and it is worth knowing why. BLS reports a $76,290 median because it surveys actual Wisconsin employers about what they pay filled positions under the electro-mechanical and mechatronics code. Salary.com models $57,754 from HR compensation data and job-title matching, which skews lower and often lags real plant-floor rates. Indeed shows $28.58 an hour, about $59,446 a year, pulled from 93 reported salaries as of July 2026. That is a decent sample, but Indeed leans toward newer and entry postings, so it reads low.

The gap between BLS at $76,290 and the two lower sources is large, close to $17,000 against Salary.com. That happens because job-board and modeled figures capture openings and averages, while BLS captures what people actually earn once employed, seniority included. When you sit down to negotiate, anchor on the BLS median of $76,290 and the Milwaukee metro figure below it. Those are the numbers a real Wisconsin employer will recognize.

Mechatronics technician pay by metro area in Wisconsin

Milwaukee-Waukesha is the center of gravity. It holds 220 of the state's 580 mechatronics jobs and pays a median of $78,260, about $2,000 over the statewide figure. Its location quotient of 2.66 is even higher than the state's, meaning the metro is one of the more concentrated markets for this job in the country. The top 10% in Milwaukee reach $109,950, edging past the state ceiling. If you want the most openings and the strongest pay in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee corridor is where to point your search.

Job outlook for mechatronics technicians in Wisconsin

Wisconsin's Department of Workforce Development projects this occupation to slip about 1.1% between 2024 and 2034, holding near 350 jobs in the projection model (that base counts differently than the 580 BLS reports for wages). Nationally, BLS projects a slight 0.7% gain. So Wisconsin is essentially flat, a hair below the US trend. Flat headcount does not mean no openings, though.

The state still expects about 30 openings a year, and almost all of those come from turnover and retirements rather than new positions. Manufacturing crews here skew experienced, and when a senior tech retires, someone has to run the line. You can check the underlying numbers at Wisconomy, the state's labor projection portal.

How Wisconsin compares with nearby states

Inside the Midwest, Wisconsin sits in the upper-middle of the pack. Its $76,290 median trails Illinois at $79,400 but beats Ohio at $73,050, and it employs more of these techs (580) than either neighbor. North Dakota tops the region at $82,820, though on a tiny base of 90 jobs. So Wisconsin offers a rare combination for the Midwest: near-top pay and real volume of work.

Who hires mechatronics technicians in Wisconsin

Rockwell Automation is headquartered in Milwaukee and is one of the largest industrial automation companies in the world. It builds the PLCs, drives, and control software that mechatronics techs run on plant floors everywhere, and it hires automation, controls, and PLC technicians directly in the Milwaukee area. Working at or near the source of the Allen-Bradley ecosystem is about as central to this trade as it gets.

On the manufacturing side, Charter Manufacturing in Milwaukee hires electro-mechanical technicians to troubleshoot and repair production equipment across its steel and metals operations. Beyond those two, Wisconsin's dense base of machinery, food processing, and heavy-equipment plants keeps a steady pull on maintenance and automation techs, which is exactly what the state's 1.98 location quotient reflects.

How to earn more as a mechatronics technician in Wisconsin

Stack the controls certifications employers actually screen for

In a Rockwell-heavy state, PLC and automation credentials carry weight. Certifications on Allen-Bradley platforms, plus a recognized mechatronics or industrial-maintenance cert, move you toward the senior tier where Wisconsin pay reaches $104,850 at the 90th percentile. See our certifications guide for which ones plant managers here recognize.

Aim for the Milwaukee corridor

Milwaukee-Waukesha pays a $78,260 median against $76,290 statewide, holds the densest concentration of these jobs in Wisconsin, and pushes its top decile to $109,950. If you are commutable to the metro, that is the highest-leverage move you can make without leaving the state or switching industries.

Move up to the controls engineer track

The clearest jump in pay is out of the tech title entirely. Controls and automation engineers program the systems you maintain, and they earn well past the technician ceiling. If you already read ladder logic and wire panels, you are closer than you think. Start with our controls engineer path and the mechatronics salary guide.

Sources & methodology

Figures on this page come from four independent datasets, retrieved 2026-07-14. Where they disagree, the disagreement is shown rather than averaged away; the source-comparison section explains why each number differs.

• BLS OEWS, SOC 17-3024, May 2025 national and state estimates (state file oesm25st.zip). Employer-reported, the authoritative baseline.
• Salary.com, Mechatronics Technician in Wisconsin, as of July 1, 2026. HR-reported and modelled averages.
• Indeed, mechatronics technician salaries in Wisconsin, based on 93 reported salaries. Posting-derived.
• Projections Central, 2024–2034 state occupational projections produced by Wisconsin's labor market agency (state source).
• Charter Manufacturing electro-mechanical technician jobs (Indeed)
• Rockwell Automation careers, Milwaukee WI (Indeed)