Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,930
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$8,220
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,146
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
$46,150
Kept after tax
$37,930
Worth in national money
$41,146
State rank
25
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Indiana is 25 of 47 states for this job, with a middle wage of $46,150. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Indiana, this sits in the middle: 358 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $46,150 you keep $37,930, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $41,146 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $47,490, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana ranks 25 of 47 for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders at $46,150. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 358 of 493 occupations in Indiana 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.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders on $46,150 is $37,930. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $41,146 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 $47,490 sits above the median, the right skew typical of 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 | $37,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,470 |
| This salary | $46,150 |
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 | $37,930 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,262 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$743 |
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 | $44,492 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$898 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 Indiana earn under $46,150 and half over. The published range runs $37,430 at the tenth percentile to $61,470 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $37,930 take-home in Indiana comes from $46,150. 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 358 of 493.
- Two cautions on $41,146, the adjusted value of that $46,150 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. 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 358 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,430 to $61,470; 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 $37,930, from $46,150, assumes a single Indiana 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 358 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 47 for it.
- This $41,146 adjusted figure, worked from $46,150, 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 358 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 358 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,430 and the top tenth $61,470, so most people doing this work in Indiana sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $41,146 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 Indiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,930 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,430 to $61,470) 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 $41,146 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 $37,930 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.