Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,010
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,440
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,539
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$48,450
Kept after tax
$40,010
Worth in national money
$35,539
State rank
11
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays this job a middle wage of $48,450, ranking 11 of 49 states and sitting about 4.58% above the national middle.
- Within California this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 381. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $48,450 the take-home is $40,010; in national-average money that behaves like $35,539. The average comes to $51,620, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California's median for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic is $48,450, about 4.58% above the national figure and 11 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Against every occupation California reports, cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 381 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Take-home for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in California, on $48,450, is $40,010; deflated by the state's price level, $35,539. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $51,620 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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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 | $37,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $68,500 |
| This salary | $48,450 |
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 California | $40,010 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,110 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,766 |
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 | $47,082 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,183 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,450 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,090 and the ninetieth is $68,500 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $40,010 take-home in California comes from $48,450. 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 381 of 492.
- Two cautions on $35,539, the adjusted value of that $48,450 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of California. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 381 of 492 locally.
- The California median of $48,450 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,090 to $68,500. 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 $40,010, from $48,450, assumes a single California 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 381 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 49 for it.
- This $35,539 adjusted figure, worked from $48,450, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 381 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 381 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,620, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,090 at the tenth percentile, $68,500 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $35,539 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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; California then takes its own share, leaving $40,010.
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.
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 California is $51,620. 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 ($37,090 to $68,500) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $35,539 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $40,010 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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.