Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,166
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$8,694
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,170
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
$47,860
Kept after tax
$39,166
Worth in national money
$40,170
State rank
17
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Pennsylvania is 17 of 49 states for this job, with a middle wage of $47,860. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 340 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $47,860, take-home of $39,166 is worth roughly $40,170 in national money. The average comes to $49,670, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Pennsylvania ranks 17 of 49 for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic at $47,860. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 340 of 492 occupations in Pennsylvania 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.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, whose median is $47,860, the adjusted figure of $40,170 differs little from $39,166 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $49,670 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 | $35,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,590 |
| This salary | $47,860 |
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 | $39,166 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,636 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,646 |
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 | $46,031 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,991 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Pennsylvania earn under $47,860 and half over. The published range runs $35,380 at the tenth percentile to $62,590 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $39,166 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $47,860. 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 340 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,170 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 340.
- Figures are distribution medians for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,380 to $62,590; 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 $39,166, from $47,860, 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 340 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,170, worked from $47,860, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 340 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 $49,670, 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 — $35,380 at the tenth percentile, $62,590 at the ninetieth.
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 $40,170.
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; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $39,166.
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 Pennsylvania is $49,670. 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 ($35,380 to $62,590) 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 $40,170 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 $39,166 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.