Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Minnesota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,788
after federal, FICA and Minnesota tax
Tax takes
$9,992
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,460
Minnesota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Minnesota — 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
$51,780
Kept after tax
$41,788
Worth in national money
$42,460
State rank
2
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Minnesota's middle earner gets $51,780, putting the state 2 of 48 — about 11.24% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 490 occupations Minnesota reports figures for, this is number 336.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $51,780, tax leaves $41,788, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $42,460 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $56,470, since top earners drag the number up.
- For grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, Minnesota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $51,780, ranking 2 of 48 and running about 11.24% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Minnesota's occupational distribution, grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic sits at 336 of 490 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Minnesota sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic — median $51,780 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $41,788 retained, $42,460 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $56,470 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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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 | $42,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,810 |
| This salary | $51,780 |
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 Minnesota | $41,788 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,785 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,598 |
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 | $49,294 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,143 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Minnesota earn less than $51,780. The published range is $42,030 up to $81,810, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Minnesota the take-home figure of $41,788, from $51,780, 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 336 of 490 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,460 uses one figure for the whole of Minnesota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 336.
- Reported values are medians; for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Minnesota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,030 to $81,810. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Minnesota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $41,788 from $51,780. 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 336 of 490 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,460, worked from $51,780, 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 Minnesota address, on work sitting at 336 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $56,470, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $42,030 at the bottom tenth to $81,810 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Minnesota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $42,460 in national terms.
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; Minnesota then takes its own share, leaving $41,788.
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 Minnesota is $56,470. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($42,030) and the ninetieth ($81,810) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Minnesota'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 $42,460 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 $41,788 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Minnesota 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.