Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,843
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$7,817
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,915
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$42,660
Kept after tax
$34,843
Worth in national money
$39,915
State rank
39
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $42,660. That is 39 of 48 states, and about 8.36% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 486 occupations Mississippi reports figures for, this is number 308.
- Here is where Mississippi does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $42,660 you keep $34,843, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $39,915 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $45,900, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $42,660, ranking 39 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 8.36%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Mississippi's occupational distribution, grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic sits at 308 of 486 — 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.
- After federal, FICA and Mississippi income tax, retained pay for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic on $42,660 is $34,843. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $39,915 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 $45,900 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 | $30,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,620 |
| This salary | $42,660 |
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 Mississippi | $34,843 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,457 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,398 |
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 | $40,651 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,900 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
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 Mississippi earn under $42,660 and half over. The published range runs $30,440 at the tenth percentile to $63,620 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Mississippi's $34,843, worked from $42,660. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 308 of 486.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,915, the adjusted value of that $42,660 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 308 of 486 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,440 to $63,620; 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.
- The Mississippi take-home of $34,843, on $42,660 for work ranking 308 of 486 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 308 of 486 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $39,915 — the adjusted value of that $42,660 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 308 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $45,900, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $30,440 at the bottom tenth to $63,620 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. Mississippi is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $39,915 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Mississippi's own levy, $34,843 remains.
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.
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 Mississippi is $45,900. 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 ($30,440) and the ninetieth ($63,620) 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?
Mississippi'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 $39,915 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 $34,843 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.