Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,042
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$9,328
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,482
Illinois costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Illinois — 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
$47,370
Kept after tax
$38,042
Worth in national money
$38,482
State rank
17
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $47,370, ranking 17 of 45 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 364 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $47,370 the take-home is $38,042, which is worth about $38,482 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $51,860, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois occupies the middle band for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders: a median of $47,370, ranking 17 of 45. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 364 of 494 in Illinois places extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders 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.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders on its $47,370 median: $38,042 retained after tax becomes $38,482 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $51,860 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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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 | $36,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,050 |
| This salary | $47,370 |
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 Illinois | $38,042 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,242 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,929 |
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 | $44,632 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,543 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
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, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders in Illinois earn under $47,370 and half over. The published range runs $36,290 at the tenth percentile to $77,050 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 Illinois's $38,042, worked from $47,370. 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 364 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,482 uses one figure for the whole of Illinois. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 364.
- Figures are distribution medians for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,290 to $77,050; 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 Illinois take-home of $38,042, on $47,370 for work ranking 364 of 494 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 364 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,482, worked from $47,370, 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 Illinois address, on work sitting at 364 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,860, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $36,290 and the top tenth $77,050 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Illinois sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $38,482 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 Illinois's own levy, $38,042 remains.
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 45 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 Illinois is $51,860. 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 ($36,290) and the ninetieth ($77,050) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Illinois'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 $38,482 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 $38,042 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Illinois 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.