Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,452
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$8,078
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,100
Maryland costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maryland — 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
$43,530
Kept after tax
$35,452
Worth in national money
$34,100
State rank
36
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Maryland pays this job a middle wage of $43,530, 36 of 48 states and about 6.49% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Maryland this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 407. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Maryland is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $43,530 the take-home is $35,452; in national-average money that behaves like $34,100. The average comes to $43,890, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Maryland's $43,530 median for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic places it 36 of 48 states, about 6.49% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Maryland reports, grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic ranks 407 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Take-home for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Maryland, on $43,530, is $35,452; deflated by the state's price level, $34,100. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $43,890 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 | $31,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,100 |
| This salary | $43,530 |
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 Maryland | $35,452 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,156 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,136 |
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 | $41,409 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,002 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,530 as a midpoint for Maryland, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,560 and the ninetieth is $54,100 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $35,452 take-home in Maryland comes from $43,530. 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 407 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,100 uses one figure for the whole of Maryland. 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 407.
- The Maryland median of $43,530 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,560 to $54,100. 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 $35,452, from $43,530, assumes a single Maryland 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 407 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,100, worked from $43,530, 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 Maryland address, on work sitting at 407 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,560 at the tenth percentile, $54,100 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Maryland run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $34,100 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Maryland adds its own income tax on top — which is why $35,452 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 ($31,560 to $54,100) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maryland rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Maryland's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $34,100 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 $35,452 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maryland 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.