Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,180
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$8,920
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,632
Colorado costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Colorado — 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
$49,100
Kept after tax
$40,180
Worth in national money
$39,632
State rank
10
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $49,100, putting the state 10 of 45 — about 7.3% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 363 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $49,100, take-home of $40,180 is worth roughly $39,632 in national money. The average comes to $51,150, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $49,100, ranking 10 of 45 and running about 7.3% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 363 of 491 occupations in Colorado 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.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders, whose median is $49,100, the adjusted figure of $39,632 differs little from $40,180 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $51,150 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,860 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,970 |
| This salary | $49,100 |
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 Colorado | $40,180 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,632 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,210 |
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 | $47,293 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,882 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,100 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,860 and the ninetieth is $73,970 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $40,180, from $49,100, 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 363 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,632, the adjusted value of that $49,100 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 363 of 491 in the state.
- The Colorado median of $49,100 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,860 to $73,970. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,180 from $49,100. 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 363 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $39,632 — the adjusted value of that $49,100 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 363 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,150, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $33,860, the highest tenth $73,970, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $39,632 of national purchasing power.
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 Colorado's own levy, $40,180 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 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 Colorado is $51,150. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($33,860) and the ninetieth ($73,970) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Colorado's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $39,632 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 $40,180 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Colorado 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.