Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Arizona

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,615
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$7,385
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,204
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$45,000
Kept after tax
$37,615
Worth in national money
$37,204
State rank
40
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Arizona pays this job a middle wage of $45,000, 40 of 46 states and about 5.7% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Arizona this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 390. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Arizona costs about what the country costs, so from $45,000, take-home of $37,615 is worth roughly $37,204 in national money. The average lands at $44,560, below the middle of the range.
- Arizona's $45,000 median for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic places it 40 of 46 states, about 5.7% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Arizona reports, extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 390 of 491, 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.
- Price parity in Arizona is near the national base, so for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, whose median is $45,000, the adjusted figure of $37,204 differs little from $37,615 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $44,560 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,540 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,800 |
| This salary | $45,000 |
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 Arizona | $37,615 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,338 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,248 |
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 | $44,101 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,719 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,000 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,540 and the ninetieth is $52,800 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $37,615 take-home in Arizona comes from $45,000. 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 390 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $37,204, the adjusted value of that $45,000 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 390 of 491 in the state.
- The Arizona median of $45,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,540 to $52,800. 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 $37,615, from $45,000, assumes a single Arizona 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 390 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $37,204 — the adjusted value of that $45,000 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 390 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $35,540 and the top tenth $52,800, so most people doing this work in Arizona sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $37,204 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,615 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 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 ($35,540 to $52,800) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $37,204 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 $37,615 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.