Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,261
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$8,969
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,405
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$47,230
Kept after tax
$38,261
Worth in national money
$39,405
State rank
17
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $47,230, ranking 17 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Maine, this sits in the middle: 361 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $47,230 the take-home is $38,261, which is worth about $39,405 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $47,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine occupies the middle band for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic: a median of $47,230, ranking 17 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 ranks 361 of 484 occupations in Maine 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic on its $47,230 median: $38,261 retained after tax becomes $39,405 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $47,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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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 | $37,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,630 |
| This salary | $47,230 |
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 Maine | $38,261 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,129 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,891 |
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 | $44,905 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,287 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 Maine earn under $47,230 and half over. The published range runs $37,780 at the tenth percentile to $56,630 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,261 take-home in Maine comes from $47,230. 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 361 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,405, the adjusted value of that $47,230 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 361 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,780 to $56,630; 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 $38,261, from $47,230, assumes a single Maine 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 361 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $39,405 — the adjusted value of that $47,230 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 361 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,780 at the bottom tenth to $56,630 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $39,405 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $38,261.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,780 to $56,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $39,405 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 $38,261 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.