Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,720
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$9,570
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,905
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$49,290
Kept after tax
$39,720
Worth in national money
$36,905
State rank
7
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $49,290, putting the state 7 of 48 — about 5.89% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in New York, this one sits low: 371 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $49,290, tax leaves $39,720 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,905 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $52,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- For grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $49,290, ranking 7 of 48 and running about 5.89% 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.
- Grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic occupies position 371 of 493 in New York'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.
- After tax, $39,720 remains from the New York median of $49,290 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,905 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $52,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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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 | $37,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,220 |
| This salary | $49,290 |
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 New York | $39,720 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,785 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,094 |
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 | $46,720 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,370 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $49,290. The published range is $37,300 up to $73,220, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $39,720 take-home in New York comes from $49,290. 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 371 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,905, the adjusted value of that $49,290 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 371 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,300 to $73,220. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $39,720, from $49,290, assumes a single New York 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 371 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $36,905 — the adjusted value of that $49,290 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 371 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $52,640 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $37,300, the highest tenth $73,220, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New York run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $36,905 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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; New York then takes its own share, leaving $39,720.
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 New York is $52,640. 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 ($37,300) and the ninetieth ($73,220) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $36,905 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 $39,720 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.