Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,498
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$8,672
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,948
Rhode Island costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Rhode Island — 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
$48,170
Kept after tax
$39,498
Worth in national money
$38,948
State rank
15
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Rhode Island pays this job a middle wage of $48,170, ranking 15 of 49 states and sitting about 3.97% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 452 occupations Rhode Island reports figures for, this is number 329.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $48,170 the take-home is $39,498, which is worth about $38,948 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $50,870, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Rhode Island's median for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic is $48,170, about 3.97% above the national figure and 15 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.
- In Rhode Island's occupational distribution, cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic sits at 329 of 452 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Rhode Island's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic on its $48,170 median: $39,498 retained after tax becomes $38,948 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $50,870 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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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 | $37,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,280 |
| This salary | $48,170 |
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 Rhode Island | $39,498 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,885 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,125 |
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 | $46,445 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,779 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Rhode Island earn less than $48,170. The published range is $37,850 up to $62,280, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $39,498 take-home in Rhode Island comes from $48,170. 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 329 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,948 uses one figure for the whole of Rhode Island. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 452 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 329.
- Reported values are medians; for cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Rhode Island the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,850 to $62,280. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $39,498, from $48,170, assumes a single Rhode Island 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 329 of 452 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,948, worked from $48,170, 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 Rhode Island address, on work sitting at 329 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $50,870, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,850 and the top tenth $62,280, so most people doing this work in Rhode Island sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Rhode Island costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $38,948 rather than its face figure.
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; Rhode Island then takes its own share, leaving $39,498.
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 Rhode Island is $50,870. 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 ($37,850 to $62,280) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Rhode Island rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Rhode Island's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $38,948 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 $39,498 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Rhode Island 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.