Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,324
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$8,856
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,467
Kentucky costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kentucky — 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
$48,180
Kept after tax
$39,324
Worth in national money
$43,467
State rank
16
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kentucky sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $48,180, ranking 16 of 47 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Kentucky, this sits in the middle: 301 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,180 you keep $39,324 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,467 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $49,050, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kentucky occupies the middle band for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders: a median of $48,180, ranking 16 of 47. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 301 of 491 occupations in Kentucky 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $39,324 after the full tax stack, from $48,180. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,467 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $49,050 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,810 |
| This salary | $48,180 |
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 Kentucky | $39,324 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,893 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,386 |
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 | $46,228 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,676 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,180 as a midpoint for Kentucky, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,820 and the ninetieth is $59,810 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Kentucky's $39,324, worked from $48,180. 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 301 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,467 uses one figure for the whole of Kentucky. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 301.
- The Kentucky median of $48,180 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,820 to $59,810. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Kentucky take-home of $39,324, on $48,180 for work ranking 301 of 491 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 301 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,467, worked from $48,180, 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 Kentucky address, on work sitting at 301 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,820 at the bottom tenth to $59,810 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Kentucky sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $43,467 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Kentucky then takes its own share, leaving $39,324.
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 ($37,820 to $59,810) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kentucky rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kentucky'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 $43,467 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 $39,324 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kentucky 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.