Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,372
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,358
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,761
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$46,730
Kept after tax
$38,372
Worth in national money
$40,761
State rank
40
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in North Carolina. The middle earner gets $46,730. That is 40 of 50 states, and about 3.15% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations North Carolina reports figures for, this is number 332.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $46,730 you keep $38,372, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $40,761 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $49,570, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders, North Carolina sits in the lower band at $46,730, ranking 40 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 3.15%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In North Carolina's occupational distribution, coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders sits at 332 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders on $46,730 is $38,372. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $40,761 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 $49,570 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,730 |
| This salary | $46,730 |
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 North Carolina | $38,372 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,728 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$122 |
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 | $45,043 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$147 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,730 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,610 and the ninetieth is $67,730 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $38,372, from $46,730, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 332 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $40,761, the adjusted value of that $46,730 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 332 of 489 locally.
- The North Carolina median of $46,730 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,610 to $67,730. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,372 from $46,730. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 332 of 489 locally.
- This $40,761 adjusted figure, worked from $46,730, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 332 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 332 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $49,570 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,610 at the bottom tenth to $67,730 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Carolina is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $40,761 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $38,372 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 North Carolina is $49,570. 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 ($35,610 to $67,730) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $40,761 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 $38,372 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.