Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,903
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,067
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,808
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
$41,970
Kept after tax
$35,903
Worth in national money
$38,808
State rank
37
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Tennessee pays this job a middle wage of $41,970, 37 of 45 states and about 8.28% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Tennessee this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 378. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $41,970 you keep $35,903, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $38,808 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $43,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Tennessee's $41,970 median for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders places it 37 of 45 states, about 8.28% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Tennessee reports, extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 378 of 491, 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.
- After federal, FICA and Tennessee income tax, retained pay for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders on $41,970 is $35,903. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $38,808 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $43,230 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 | $34,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,050 |
| This salary | $41,970 |
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 | $35,903 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,903 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,861 |
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 | $41,970 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,251 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Tennessee earn under $41,970 and half over. The published range runs $34,770 at the tenth percentile to $56,050 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,903 take-home in Tennessee comes from $41,970. 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 378 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,808, the adjusted value of that $41,970 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 378 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for extruding, forming, pressing, and compacting machine setters, operators, and tenders in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,770 to $56,050; 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.
- Retained pay of $35,903, from $41,970, assumes a single Tennessee 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 378 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $38,808 — the adjusted value of that $41,970 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 378 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 $43,230, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,770 at the bottom tenth to $56,050 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Tennessee sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $38,808 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $35,903 survives, because Tennessee levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 Tennessee is $43,230. 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 ($34,770 to $56,050) 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 $38,808 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 $35,903 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.