Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,331
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$8,519
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,606
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$45,850
Kept after tax
$37,331
Worth in national money
$38,606
State rank
27
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Georgia pays this job around $45,850 at the midpoint, 27 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Georgia, this sits in the middle: 350 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Georgia does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $45,850 you keep $37,331, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $38,606 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $46,330, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic the Georgia median is $45,850, ranking 27 of 48 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic ranks 350 of 492 occupations in Georgia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Georgia income tax, retained pay for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic on $45,850 is $37,331. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $38,606 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 $46,330 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $36,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,530 |
| This salary | $45,850 |
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 Georgia | $37,331 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,020 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,549 |
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 | $43,748 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,874 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Georgia earn less than $45,850. The published range is $36,950 up to $60,530, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $37,331 take-home in Georgia comes from $45,850. 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 350 of 492.
- Two cautions on $38,606, the adjusted value of that $45,850 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Georgia. 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 350 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Georgia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,950 to $60,530. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $37,331, from $45,850, assumes a single Georgia 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 350 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 48 for it.
- This $38,606 adjusted figure, worked from $45,850, 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 350 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 350 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,950 at the bottom tenth to $60,530 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $38,606.
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 Georgia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,331 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,950 to $60,530) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Georgia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $38,606 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 $37,331 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.