Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,081
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$7,809
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,826
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$45,890
Kept after tax
$38,081
Worth in national money
$33,826
State rank
26
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $45,890, ranking 26 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in California, this one sits low: 420 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- California is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $45,890 the take-home is $38,081; in national-average money that behaves like $33,826. The average comes to $48,450, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- California occupies the middle band for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic: a median of $45,890, ranking 26 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic occupies position 420 of 492 in California'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.
- Take-home for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in California, on $45,890, is $38,081; deflated by the state's price level, $33,826. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $48,450 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,630 |
| This salary | $45,890 |
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 California | $38,081 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,053 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,362 |
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 | $44,681 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,694 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,890 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,510 and the ninetieth is $62,630 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In California the take-home figure of $38,081, from $45,890, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 420 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,826, the adjusted value of that $45,890 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 420 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $45,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,510 to $62,630. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,081 from $45,890. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 420 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $33,826 — the adjusted value of that $45,890 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 420 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 $48,450, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,510 and the top tenth $62,630, so most people doing this work in California sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. California costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $33,826 rather than its face figure.
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 California's own levy, $38,081 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 48 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 California is $48,450. 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 ($36,510 to $62,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $33,826 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $38,081 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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.