Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,026
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$7,564
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,979
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$41,590
Kept after tax
$34,026
Worth in national money
$38,979
State rank
41
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Mississippi is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $41,590, ranking 41 of 47 states — about 10.69% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Mississippi, this sits in the middle: 315 of 486 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Mississippi is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $41,590 the take-home is $34,026; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $38,979 would nationally. The average comes to $43,010, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Mississippi ranks 41 of 47 for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders, with a median of $41,590 — about 10.69% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 315 of 486 occupations in Mississippi 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.
- Post-tax income for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Mississippi, on $41,590, is $34,026 — equivalent to $38,979 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 $43,010 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,050 |
| This salary | $41,590 |
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 Mississippi | $34,026 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,598 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,347 |
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 | $39,634 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,839 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $41,590. The published range is $30,460 up to $57,050, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $34,026 take-home in Mississippi comes from $41,590. 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 315 of 486.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,979, the adjusted value of that $41,590 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 315 of 486 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $30,460 to $57,050. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $34,026, from $41,590, assumes a single Mississippi 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 315 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $38,979 — the adjusted value of that $41,590 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 315 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $43,010, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,460 and the top tenth $57,050, so most people doing this work in Mississippi sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $38,979.
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 Mississippi adds its own income tax on top — which is why $34,026 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Mississippi is $43,010. 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 ($30,460 to $57,050) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi'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 $38,979 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 $34,026 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.