Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in South Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,446
after federal, FICA and South Carolina tax
Tax takes
$7,964
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,335
South Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in South Carolina — 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
$47,410
Kept after tax
$39,446
Worth in national money
$42,335
State rank
19
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. South Carolina pays this job around $47,410 at the midpoint, 19 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in South Carolina, this sits in the middle: 308 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where South Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $47,410 you keep $39,446, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,335 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $47,250, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders the South Carolina median is $47,410, ranking 19 of 47 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 308 of 492 occupations in South Carolina 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 South Carolina income tax, retained pay for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders on $47,410 is $39,446. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,335 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 $47,250 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in 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 | $36,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,900 |
| This salary | $47,410 |
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 South Carolina | $39,446 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,274 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$890 |
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 | $46,380 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,076 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in South Carolina earn less than $47,410. The published range is $36,400 up to $61,900, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $39,446 take-home in South Carolina comes from $47,410. 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 308 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of South Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,335, the adjusted value of that $47,410 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 308 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in South Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,400 to $61,900. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $39,446, from $47,410, assumes a single South Carolina 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 308 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for South Carolina, so $42,335 — the adjusted value of that $47,410 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 308 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,400 and the top tenth $61,900, so most people doing this work in South Carolina 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 $42,335.
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 South Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $39,446 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 ($36,400 to $61,900) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to South Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
South Carolina'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 $42,335 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 $39,446 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and South Carolina 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.