Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,166
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,604
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,604
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$47,770
Kept after tax
$39,166
Worth in national money
$41,604
State rank
12
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. North Carolina's middle earner gets $47,770, putting the state 12 of 48 — about 2.62% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations North Carolina reports figures for, this is number 315.
- North Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $47,770 the take-home is $39,166; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $41,604 would nationally. The average lands at $47,010, below the middle of the range.
- For grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, North Carolina sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $47,770, ranking 12 of 48 and running about 2.62% 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 North Carolina's occupational distribution, grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic sits at 315 of 489 — 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.
- Post-tax income for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in North Carolina, on $47,770, is $39,166 — equivalent to $41,604 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $47,010 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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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 | $34,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,950 |
| This salary | $47,770 |
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 North Carolina | $39,166 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,563 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$138 |
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 | $46,031 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$167 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
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 North Carolina earn under $47,770 and half over. The published range runs $34,690 at the tenth percentile to $58,950 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 North Carolina's $39,166, worked from $47,770. 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 315 of 489.
- Two cautions on $41,604, the adjusted value of that $47,770 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 315 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,690 to $58,950; 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 North Carolina take-home of $39,166, on $47,770 for work ranking 315 of 489 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 315 of 489 in the state.
- This $41,604 adjusted figure, worked from $47,770, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 315 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 315 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,690 at the bottom tenth to $58,950 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $41,604.
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 North Carolina's own levy, $39,166 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,690 to $58,950) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $41,604 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 $39,166 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.