Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,576
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$8,004
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,436
Arkansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arkansas — 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
$45,580
Kept after tax
$37,576
Worth in national money
$43,436
State rank
33
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Arkansas pays this job a middle wage of $45,580, 33 of 49 states and about 1.62% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Arkansas, this sits in the middle: 280 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Arkansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,580 the take-home is $37,576; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,436 would nationally. The average lands at $44,480, below the middle of the range.
- Arkansas's $45,580 median for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic places it 33 of 49 states, about 1.62% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 280 of 489 occupations in Arkansas 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, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Arkansas, on $45,580, is $37,576 — equivalent to $43,436 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 $44,480 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,860 |
| This salary | $45,580 |
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 Arkansas | $37,576 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,804 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,504 |
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 | $44,052 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,238 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,580 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,800 and the ninetieth is $56,860 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Arkansas the take-home figure of $37,576, from $45,580, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 280 of 489 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,436, the adjusted value of that $45,580 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 280 of 489 in the state.
- The Arkansas median of $45,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,800 to $56,860. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Arkansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,576 from $45,580. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 280 of 489 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $43,436 — the adjusted value of that $45,580 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 280 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,800 at the tenth percentile, $56,860 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Arkansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $43,436 in national terms.
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; Arkansas then takes its own share, leaving $37,576.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 ($32,800 to $56,860) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arkansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Arkansas'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 $43,436 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 $37,576 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arkansas 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.