Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,386
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$8,464
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,370
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$46,850
Kept after tax
$38,386
Worth in national money
$39,370
State rank
21
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Pennsylvania is 21 of 47 states for this job, with a middle wage of $46,850. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 354 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $46,850 the take-home is $38,386, which is worth about $39,370 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $47,770, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 21 of 47 for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders at $46,850. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 354 of 492 in Pennsylvania places cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Pennsylvania'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 $46,850 median: $38,386 retained after tax becomes $39,370 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $47,770 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,540 |
| This salary | $46,850 |
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 Pennsylvania | $38,386 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,824 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,612 |
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 | $45,060 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,949 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,850 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,530 and the ninetieth is $60,540 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $38,386 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $46,850. 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 354 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,370, the adjusted value of that $46,850 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 354 of 492 in the state.
- The Pennsylvania median of $46,850 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,530 to $60,540. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $38,386, from $46,850, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 354 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $39,370 — the adjusted value of that $46,850 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 354 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,530 at the tenth percentile, $60,540 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $39,370 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $38,386 remains.
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 ($36,530 to $60,540) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $39,370 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 $38,386 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.