Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,435
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$6,475
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,606
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$37,910
Kept after tax
$31,435
Worth in national money
$35,606
State rank
46
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Oklahoma is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $37,910, ranking 46 of 47 states — about 18.6% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Oklahoma, this one sits low: 398 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,910 you keep $31,435 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $35,606 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $40,560, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oklahoma ranks 46 of 47 for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders, with a median of $37,910 — about 18.6% 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 occupies position 398 of 492 in Oklahoma's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $31,435 after the full tax stack, from $37,910. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,606 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $40,560 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,250 |
| This salary | $37,910 |
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 Oklahoma | $31,435 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,641 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,017 |
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 | $36,410 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,439 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Oklahoma earn less than $37,910. The published range is $31,110 up to $50,250, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Oklahoma's $31,435, worked from $37,910. 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 398 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Oklahoma, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,606, the adjusted value of that $37,910 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 398 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Oklahoma the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,110 to $50,250. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Oklahoma take-home of $31,435, on $37,910 for work ranking 398 of 492 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 398 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Oklahoma, so $35,606 — the adjusted value of that $37,910 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 398 of 492 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 $40,560 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,110 at the bottom tenth to $50,250 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 Oklahoma sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $35,606 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,435 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 Oklahoma is $40,560. 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 ($31,110 to $50,250) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oklahoma rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Oklahoma'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 $35,606 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 $31,435 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.