Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,800
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$9,350
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,344
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$51,150
Kept after tax
$41,800
Worth in national money
$45,344
State rank
19
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Indiana pays this job around $51,150 at the midpoint, 19 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Indiana reports figures for, this is number 275.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $51,150 you keep $41,800 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $45,344 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $52,830, since top earners drag the number up.
- For crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders the Indiana median is $51,150, ranking 19 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.
- In Indiana's occupational distribution, crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders sits at 275 of 493 — 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.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $41,800 after the full tax stack, from $51,150. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,344 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $52,830 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,200 |
| This salary | $51,150 |
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 Indiana | $41,800 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,279 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$806 |
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 | $49,309 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$975 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $51,150. The published range is $37,190 up to $70,200, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Indiana the take-home figure of $41,800, from $51,150, 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 275 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,344 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 275.
- Reported values are medians; for crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,190 to $70,200. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Indiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $41,800 from $51,150. 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 275 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,344, worked from $51,150, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 275 of 493 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 $52,830 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 — $37,190 at the tenth percentile, $70,200 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 $45,344.
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 Indiana's own levy, $41,800 remains.
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.
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 Indiana is $52,830. 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 ($37,190 to $70,200) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $45,344 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 $41,800 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.