Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,283
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$9,057
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,573
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$49,340
Kept after tax
$40,283
Worth in national money
$44,573
State rank
19
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Nebraska sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $49,340, ranking 19 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Nebraska, this sits in the middle: 299 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Nebraska does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,340 you keep $40,283, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $44,573 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $54,900, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Nebraska occupies the middle band for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders: a median of $49,340, ranking 19 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 299 of 488 occupations in Nebraska by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Nebraska income tax, retained pay for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders on $49,340 is $40,283. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $44,573 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $54,900 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,290 |
| This salary | $49,340 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Nebraska | $40,283 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,825 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,532 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $47,422 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,853 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Nebraska earn less than $49,340. The published range is $38,980 up to $66,290, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $40,283 take-home in Nebraska comes from $49,340. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 299 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Nebraska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,573, the adjusted value of that $49,340 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 299 of 488 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in Nebraska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,980 to $66,290. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $40,283, from $49,340, assumes a single Nebraska filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 299 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Nebraska, so $44,573 — the adjusted value of that $49,340 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 299 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $54,900, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,980 at the tenth percentile, $66,290 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Nebraska sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $44,573 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Nebraska's own levy, $40,283 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Nebraska is $54,900. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,980 to $66,290) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nebraska rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $44,573 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $40,283 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.