Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,669
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$10,251
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,315
Alabama costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alabama — 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
$51,920
Kept after tax
$41,669
Worth in national money
$46,315
State rank
16
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Alabama pays this job around $51,920 at the midpoint, 16 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 238 among 482 occupations Alabama publishes pay for.
- Here is where Alabama does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $51,920 you keep $41,669, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $46,315 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $51,610, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders the Alabama median is $51,920, ranking 16 of 47 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.
- Position 238 of 482 in Alabama places crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Alabama income tax, retained pay for crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders on $51,920 is $41,669. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $46,315 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 $51,610 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,090 |
| This salary | $51,920 |
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 Alabama | $41,669 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,898 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,141 |
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 | $49,147 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,380 |
| 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 Alabama earn less than $51,920. The published range is $24,230 up to $77,090, 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 Alabama's $41,669, worked from $51,920. 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 238 of 482.
- Two cautions on $46,315, the adjusted value of that $51,920 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alabama. 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 238 of 482 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $24,230 to $77,090. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Alabama take-home of $41,669, on $51,920 for work ranking 238 of 482 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 238 of 482 in the state.
- This $46,315 adjusted figure, worked from $51,920, 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 238 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 238 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $24,230 and the top tenth $77,090 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $46,315.
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; Alabama then takes its own share, leaving $41,669.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($24,230) and the ninetieth ($77,090) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Alabama'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 $46,315 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 $41,669 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Alabama 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.