Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,226
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$6,944
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,707
Alabama costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alabama — 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
$38,170
Kept after tax
$31,226
Worth in national money
$34,707
State rank
47
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $38,170, ranking 47 of 48 states — about 18% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Alabama, this one sits low: 370 of 482 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $38,170 the take-home is $31,226; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,707 would nationally. The average comes to $41,330, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alabama ranks 47 of 48 for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, with a median of $38,170 — about 18% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic occupies position 370 of 482 in Alabama's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Post-tax income for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Alabama, on $38,170, is $31,226 — equivalent to $34,707 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $41,330 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,180 |
| This salary | $38,170 |
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 Alabama | $31,226 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,850 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$903 |
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 | $36,149 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,092 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,170 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,340 and the ninetieth is $56,180 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alabama's $31,226, worked from $38,170. 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 370 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,707, the adjusted value of that $38,170 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 370 of 482 in the state.
- The Alabama median of $38,170 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,340 to $56,180. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Alabama take-home of $31,226, on $38,170 for work ranking 370 of 482 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 370 of 482 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $34,707 — the adjusted value of that $38,170 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 370 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $41,330 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,340 at the tenth percentile, $56,180 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $34,707.
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 Alabama's own levy, $31,226 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 Alabama is $41,330. 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 ($29,340 to $56,180) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alabama rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Alabama'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 $34,707 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 $31,226 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Alabama 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.