Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,118
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$9,052
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,092
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$49,170
Kept after tax
$40,118
Worth in national money
$43,092
State rank
21
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays this job around $49,170 at the midpoint, 21 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Wisconsin reports figures for, this is number 324.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,170 you keep $40,118, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,092 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $51,080, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders the Wisconsin median is $49,170, ranking 21 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Wisconsin's occupational distribution, coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders sits at 324 of 491 — 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 Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders on $49,170 is $40,118. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,092 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 $51,080 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 | $39,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,000 |
| This salary | $49,170 |
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 Wisconsin | $40,118 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,688 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$192 |
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 | $47,215 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$232 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $49,170. The published range is $39,090 up to $64,000, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wisconsin's $40,118, worked from $49,170. 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 324 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,092 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 324.
- Reported values are medians; for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,090 to $64,000. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Wisconsin take-home of $40,118, on $49,170 for work ranking 324 of 491 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 324 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,092, worked from $49,170, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 324 of 491 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 $51,080 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,090 at the tenth percentile, $64,000 at the ninetieth.
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 $43,092.
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; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $40,118.
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 Wisconsin is $51,080. 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 ($39,090 to $64,000) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $43,092 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 $40,118 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.