Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,720
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$8,520
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,746
Iowa costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Iowa — 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
$48,240
Kept after tax
$39,720
Worth in national money
$44,746
State rank
14
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Iowa pays this job a middle wage of $48,240, ranking 14 of 49 states and sitting about 4.12% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Iowa, this sits in the middle: 318 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $48,240 you keep $39,720 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,746 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $47,960.
- Iowa's median for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic is $48,240, about 4.12% above the national figure and 14 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.
- Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 318 of 493 occupations in Iowa 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.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $39,720 after the full tax stack, from $48,240. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,746 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $47,960 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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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 | $36,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,490 |
| This salary | $48,240 |
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 Iowa | $39,720 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,941 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,615 |
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 | $46,720 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,162 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Iowa earn under $48,240 and half over. The published range runs $36,550 at the tenth percentile to $57,490 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $39,720 take-home in Iowa comes from $48,240. 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 318 of 493.
- Two cautions on $44,746, the adjusted value of that $48,240 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Iowa. 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 318 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Iowa, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,550 to $57,490; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $39,720, from $48,240, assumes a single Iowa 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 318 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 49 for it.
- This $44,746 adjusted figure, worked from $48,240, 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 318 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 318 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,550 and the top tenth $57,490, so most people doing this work in Iowa sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Iowa is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $44,746 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; Iowa then takes its own share, leaving $39,720.
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 ($36,550 to $57,490) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Iowa rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Iowa'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 $44,746 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 $39,720 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Iowa 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.