Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Washington
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,129
after federal, FICA and Washington tax
Tax takes
$7,101
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,964
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
$47,230
Kept after tax
$40,129
Worth in national money
$36,964
State rank
27
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Washington is 27 of 46 states for this job, with a middle wage of $47,230. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Washington this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 423. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $47,230 the take-home is $40,129. But Washington costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $36,964 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $49,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Washington ranks 27 of 46 for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic at $47,230. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Washington reports, extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 423 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Washington income tax is $40,129 for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, from $47,230. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,964. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $49,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $39,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,690 |
| This salary | $47,230 |
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 | $40,129 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,129 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,332 |
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 | $47,230 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,239 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Washington earn under $47,230 and half over. The published range runs $39,670 at the tenth percentile to $61,690 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Washington's $40,129, worked from $47,230. 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 423 of 493.
- Two cautions on $36,964, the adjusted value of that $47,230 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Washington. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 423 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for extruding and drawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Washington, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,670 to $61,690; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Washington take-home of $40,129, on $47,230 for work ranking 423 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 423 of 493 in the state.
- This $36,964 adjusted figure, worked from $47,230, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 423 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 423 of 493 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 $49,590, 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 $39,670 and the top tenth $61,690, so most people doing this work in Washington 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 $36,964 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $40,129 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?
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 Washington is $49,590. 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 ($39,670 to $61,690) 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 $36,964 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 $40,129 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.