Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,386
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$7,164
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,654
Tennessee costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Tennessee — 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
$47,550
Kept after tax
$40,386
Worth in national money
$43,654
State rank
25
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Tennessee is 25 of 46 states for this job, with a middle wage of $47,550. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Tennessee, this sits in the middle: 311 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $47,550 the take-home is $40,386; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,654 would nationally. The average comes to $47,590, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Tennessee ranks 25 of 46 for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic at $47,550. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 311 of 491 occupations in Tennessee by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Tennessee, on $47,550, is $40,386 — equivalent to $43,654 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $47,590 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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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 | $35,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,710 |
| This salary | $47,550 |
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 Tennessee | $40,386 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,386 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,093 |
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 | $47,550 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,532 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $47,550. The published range is $35,000 up to $63,710, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Tennessee the take-home figure of $40,386, from $47,550, 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 311 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,654, the adjusted value of that $47,550 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 311 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,000 to $63,710. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Tennessee is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,386 from $47,550. 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 311 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $43,654 — the adjusted value of that $47,550 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 311 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $35,000 and the top tenth $63,710, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $43,654.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $40,386 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,000 to $63,710) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Tennessee rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Tennessee'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 $43,654 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Tennessee levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $40,386 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.