Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,193
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$9,557
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,617
Colorado costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Colorado — 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
$51,750
Kept after tax
$42,193
Worth in national money
$41,617
State rank
3
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $51,750, which ranks 3 of 47 states with published figures. That is about 11.12% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 331 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $51,750 the take-home is $42,193, which is worth about $41,617 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $51,580, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Colorado ranks 3 of 47 states publishing a median for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders, at $51,750 — about 11.12% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 331 of 491 occupations in Colorado by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders on its $51,750 median: $42,193 retained after tax becomes $41,617 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $51,580 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,150 |
| This salary | $51,750 |
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 Colorado | $42,193 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,761 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,416 |
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 | $49,798 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,131 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 Colorado earn under $51,750 and half over. The published range runs $40,400 at the tenth percentile to $60,150 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $42,193 take-home in Colorado comes from $51,750. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 331 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,617, the adjusted value of that $51,750 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 331 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,400 to $60,150; 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.
- Retained pay of $42,193, from $51,750, assumes a single Colorado filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 331 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $41,617 — the adjusted value of that $51,750 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 331 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $40,400 at the bottom tenth to $60,150 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Colorado costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $41,617 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 Colorado's own levy, $42,193 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($40,400 to $60,150) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Colorado rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Colorado's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $41,617 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 $42,193 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Colorado 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.