Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,419
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$7,321
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,033
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
$39,740
Kept after tax
$32,419
Worth in national money
$36,033
State rank
44
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Alabama pays this job a middle wage of $39,740, 44 of 47 states and about 14.67% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 346 among 482 occupations Alabama publishes pay for.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $39,740 the take-home is $32,419; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $36,033 would nationally. The average comes to $43,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alabama's $39,740 median for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders places it 44 of 47 states, about 14.67% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 346 of 482 in Alabama places cutting and slicing 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.
- Post-tax income for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Alabama, on $39,740, is $32,419 — equivalent to $36,033 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $43,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,350 |
| This salary | $39,740 |
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 | $32,419 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,111 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$930 |
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 | $37,634 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,125 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Alabama earn under $39,740 and half over. The published range runs $31,710 at the tenth percentile to $60,350 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 Alabama's $32,419, worked from $39,740. 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 346 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,033, the adjusted value of that $39,740 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 346 of 482 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Alabama, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,710 to $60,350; 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 Alabama take-home of $32,419, on $39,740 for work ranking 346 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 346 of 482 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $36,033 — the adjusted value of that $39,740 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 346 of 482 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 $43,640 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,710 and the top tenth $60,350 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Alabama is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $36,033 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Alabama adds its own income tax on top — which is why $32,419 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Alabama is $43,640. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,710) and the ninetieth ($60,350) 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 $36,033 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 $32,419 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.