Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,587
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$9,993
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,704
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$53,580
Kept after tax
$43,587
Worth in national money
$44,704
State rank
2
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $53,580, which ranks 2 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 17.09% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 285 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $53,580, take-home of $43,587 is worth roughly $44,704 in national money. The average comes to $57,820, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Pennsylvania ranks 2 of 45 states publishing a median for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders, at $53,580 — about 17.09% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 285 of 492 in Pennsylvania 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.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders, whose median is $53,580, the adjusted figure of $44,704 differs little from $43,587 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $57,820 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 | $40,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,670 |
| This salary | $53,580 |
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 Pennsylvania | $43,587 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,232 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,842 |
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 | $51,533 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,228 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Pennsylvania earn under $53,580 and half over. The published range runs $40,020 at the tenth percentile to $78,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $43,587 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $53,580. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 285 of 492.
- Two cautions on $44,704, the adjusted value of that $53,580 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 285 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,020 to $78,670; 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.
- Retained pay of $43,587, from $53,580, assumes a single Pennsylvania filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 285 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 45 for it.
- This $44,704 adjusted figure, worked from $53,580, 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 285 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 285 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $57,820, 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 $40,020 and the top tenth $78,670 — 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 Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $44,704 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $43,587 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Pennsylvania is $57,820. 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 ($40,020) and the ninetieth ($78,670) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $44,704 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 $43,587 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.