Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Missouri
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,954
after federal, FICA and Missouri tax
Tax takes
$8,096
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,362
Missouri costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Missouri — 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
$46,050
Kept after tax
$37,954
Worth in national money
$41,362
State rank
33
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Missouri. The middle earner gets $46,050. That is 33 of 46 states, and about 3.5% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 340 among 488 occupations Missouri publishes pay for.
- Here is where Missouri does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $46,050 you keep $37,954, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $41,362 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $47,640, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, Missouri sits in the lower band at $46,050, ranking 33 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 3.5%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 340 of 488 in Missouri 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.
- After federal, FICA and Missouri income tax, retained pay for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic on $46,050 is $37,954. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $41,362 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $47,640 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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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 | $35,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,870 |
| This salary | $46,050 |
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 Missouri | $37,954 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,181 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,041 |
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 | $44,523 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,259 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,050 as a midpoint for Missouri, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,630 and the ninetieth is $61,870 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Missouri's $37,954, worked from $46,050. 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 340 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Missouri, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,362, the adjusted value of that $46,050 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 340 of 488 in the state.
- The Missouri median of $46,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,630 to $61,870. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Missouri take-home of $37,954, on $46,050 for work ranking 340 of 488 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 340 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Missouri, so $41,362 — the adjusted value of that $46,050 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 340 of 488 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 $47,640, 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 $35,630 and the top tenth $61,870, so most people doing this work in Missouri sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Missouri is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $41,362 in national terms.
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; Missouri then takes its own share, leaving $37,954.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Missouri is $47,640. 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 ($35,630 to $61,870) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Missouri rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Missouri'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 $41,362 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 $37,954 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Missouri 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.