Prepress Technicians and Workers
Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Includes digital and photo typesetting. May produce printing plates.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Prepress Technicians and Workers. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $35,810 | $17.22 |
| 25th | $40,930 | $19.68 |
| 50th · Median | $48,690 | $23.41 |
| 75th | $58,580 | $28.16 |
| 90th | $66,080 | $31.77 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
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Compare an entered wage with the published thresholds for United States. Your entry stays on this page.
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What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (48)
Typical tasks
- Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece.
- Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.
- Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.
- Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer.
- Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.
- Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.
Expand more tasks (9)
- Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.
- Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate.
- Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.
- Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes.
- Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing.
- Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making.
- Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels.
- Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color.
- Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers.
Skills used in this work
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Expand more skills (29)
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
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