Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,984
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$6,606
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,129
Arkansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arkansas — 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
$39,590
Kept after tax
$32,984
Worth in national money
$38,129
State rank
43
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $39,590. That is 43 of 48 states, and about 14.95% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 335 among 489 occupations Arkansas publishes pay for.
- Arkansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $39,590 the take-home is $32,984; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $38,129 would nationally. The average comes to $42,920, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $39,590, ranking 43 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 14.95%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 335 of 489 in Arkansas places grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic 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.
- Post-tax income for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Arkansas, on $39,590, is $32,984 — equivalent to $38,129 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 $42,920 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 | $33,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,490 |
| This salary | $39,590 |
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 Arkansas | $32,984 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,991 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,150 |
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 | $38,338 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,810 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,590 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,690 and the ninetieth is $50,490 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $32,984 take-home in Arkansas comes from $39,590. 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 335 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,129 uses one figure for the whole of Arkansas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 335.
- The Arkansas median of $39,590 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,690 to $50,490. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $32,984, from $39,590, assumes a single Arkansas 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 335 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,129, worked from $39,590, 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 Arkansas address, on work sitting at 335 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $42,920, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $33,690 and the top tenth $50,490, so most people doing this work in Arkansas sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Arkansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $38,129 in national terms.
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 Arkansas's own levy, $32,984 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 Arkansas is $42,920. 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 ($33,690 to $50,490) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arkansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Arkansas'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 $38,129 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 $32,984 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arkansas 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.