Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,403
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$8,307
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,240
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$42,710
Kept after tax
$34,403
Worth in national money
$38,240
State rank
38
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Kansas is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $42,710, ranking 38 of 48 states — about 8.25% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Kansas, this one sits low: 373 of 488 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Kansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $42,710 the take-home is $34,403; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $38,240 would nationally. The average comes to $42,810, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Kansas ranks 38 of 48 for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, with a median of $42,710 — about 8.25% 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 373 of 488 in Kansas'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 Kansas, on $42,710, is $34,403 — equivalent to $38,240 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 $42,810 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 | $35,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,980 |
| This salary | $42,710 |
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 Kansas | $34,403 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,497 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$682 |
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 | $40,103 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$824 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Kansas earn under $42,710 and half over. The published range runs $35,520 at the tenth percentile to $49,980 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $34,403 take-home in Kansas comes from $42,710. 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 373 of 488.
- Two cautions on $38,240, the adjusted value of that $42,710 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Kansas. 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 373 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Kansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,520 to $49,980; 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 $34,403, from $42,710, assumes a single Kansas 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 373 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 48 for it.
- This $38,240 adjusted figure, worked from $42,710, 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 373 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 373 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,520 at the bottom tenth to $49,980 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $38,240 in national terms.
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 Kansas adds its own income tax on top — which is why $34,403 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,520 to $49,980) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kansas'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 $38,240 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 $34,403 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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.