Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,287
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$7,873
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,873
Washington costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Washington — 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
$51,160
Kept after tax
$43,287
Worth in national money
$39,873
State rank
3
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Washington's middle earner gets $51,160, putting the state 3 of 49 — about 10.43% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Washington this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 378. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $51,160, tax leaves $43,287 — and because Washington is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $39,873 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $55,150, since top earners drag the number up.
- For cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, Washington sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $51,160, ranking 3 of 49 and running about 10.43% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Against every occupation Washington reports, cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 378 of 493, 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.
- After tax, $43,287 remains from the Washington median of $51,160 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $39,873 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $55,150 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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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 | $41,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,550 |
| This salary | $51,160 |
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 Washington | $43,287 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,287 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,672 |
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 | $51,160 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,651 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $51,160 as a midpoint for Washington, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,440 and the ninetieth is $71,550 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Washington the take-home figure of $43,287, from $51,160, 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 378 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,873 uses one figure for the whole of Washington. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 378.
- The Washington median of $51,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,440 to $71,550. 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 Washington is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $43,287 from $51,160. 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 378 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,873, worked from $51,160, 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 Washington address, on work sitting at 378 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $55,150 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $41,440 at the bottom tenth to $71,550 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Washington run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $39,873 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $43,287 survives, because Washington levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Washington is $55,150. 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 ($41,440 to $71,550) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Washington rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Washington's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $39,873 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Washington levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $43,287 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.