Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Iowa
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,954
after federal, FICA and Iowa tax
Tax takes
$8,286
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,883
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
$47,240
Kept after tax
$38,954
Worth in national money
$43,883
State rank
26
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Iowa is 26 of 46 states for this job, with a middle wage of $47,240. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 335 among 493 occupations Iowa publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $47,240 you keep $38,954 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,883 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $49,300, since top earners drag the number up.
- Iowa ranks 26 of 46 for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic at $47,240. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 335 of 493 in Iowa places extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Iowa is $38,954 after the full tax stack, from $47,240. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,883 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $49,300 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,520 |
| This salary | $47,240 |
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 | $38,954 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,137 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,579 |
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 | $45,767 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,119 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Iowa earn less than $47,240. The published range is $36,240 up to $64,520, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Iowa's $38,954, worked from $47,240. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 335 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,883 uses one figure for the whole of Iowa. 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 335.
- Reported values are medians; for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Iowa the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,240 to $64,520. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Iowa take-home of $38,954, on $47,240 for work ranking 335 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 335 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,883, worked from $47,240, 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 Iowa address, on work sitting at 335 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 $49,300 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,240 at the tenth percentile, $64,520 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Iowa sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $43,883 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Iowa's own levy, $38,954 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 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 Iowa is $49,300. 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 ($36,240 to $64,520) 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 $43,883 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 $38,954 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.