Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,664
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$8,026
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,509
New Jersey costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Jersey — 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
$46,690
Kept after tax
$38,664
Worth in national money
$35,509
State rank
31
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. New Jersey is 31 of 47 states for this job, with a middle wage of $46,690. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within New Jersey this is lower-paid work. Of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 389. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $46,690 the take-home is $38,664; in national-average money that behaves like $35,509. The average comes to $48,870, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New Jersey ranks 31 of 47 for crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders at $46,690. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation New Jersey reports, crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 389 of 490, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Take-home for crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders in New Jersey, on $46,690, is $38,664; deflated by the state's price level, $35,509. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $48,870 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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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 | $35,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,500 |
| This salary | $46,690 |
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 New Jersey | $38,664 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,695 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,340 |
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 | $45,406 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,458 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders in New Jersey earn under $46,690 and half over. The published range runs $35,600 at the tenth percentile to $66,500 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 New Jersey's $38,664, worked from $46,690. 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 389 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $35,509 uses one figure for the whole of New Jersey. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 389.
- Figures are distribution medians for crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,600 to $66,500; 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 New Jersey take-home of $38,664, on $46,690 for work ranking 389 of 490 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 389 of 490 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $35,509, worked from $46,690, 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 New Jersey address, on work sitting at 389 of 490 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 $48,870 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $35,600 and the top tenth $66,500, so most people doing this work in New Jersey sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New Jersey costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $35,509 rather than its face figure.
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 New Jersey's own levy, $38,664 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 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 New Jersey is $48,870. 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 ($35,600 to $66,500) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New Jersey rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New Jersey's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $35,509 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $38,664 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New Jersey 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.