Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,175
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$7,845
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,745
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$51,020
Kept after tax
$43,175
Worth in national money
$48,745
State rank
13
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. North Dakota's middle earner gets $51,020, putting the state 13 of 50 — about 5.74% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 460 occupations North Dakota reports figures for, this is number 301.
- Here is where North Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $51,020 you keep $43,175, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $48,745 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $56,460, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders, North Dakota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $51,020, ranking 13 of 50 and running about 5.74% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In North Dakota's occupational distribution, coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders sits at 301 of 460 — 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 Dakota income tax, retained pay for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders on $51,020 is $43,175. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $48,745 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 $56,460 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 | $43,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,160 |
| This salary | $51,020 |
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 Dakota | $43,175 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,175 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,315 |
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 | $51,020 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,219 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in North Dakota earn under $51,020 and half over. The published range runs $43,630 at the tenth percentile to $75,160 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Dakota's $43,175, worked from $51,020. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 301 of 460.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,745 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 301.
- Figures are distribution medians for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,630 to $75,160; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The North Dakota take-home of $43,175, on $51,020 for work ranking 301 of 460 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 301 of 460 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,745, worked from $51,020, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular North Dakota address, on work sitting at 301 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $56,460, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $43,630 and the top tenth $75,160, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $48,745.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; North Dakota then takes its own share, leaving $43,175.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Dakota is $56,460. 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 ($43,630 to $75,160) 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 Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $48,745 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 $43,175 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.