Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,104
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,606
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,187
Tennessee costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Tennessee — 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
$44,710
Kept after tax
$38,104
Worth in national money
$41,187
State rank
31
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Tennessee pays this job around $44,710 at the midpoint, 31 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 353.
- Tennessee is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $44,710 the take-home is $38,104; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $41,187 would nationally. The average comes to $44,740, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic the Tennessee median is $44,710, ranking 31 of 48 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic sits at 353 of 491 — 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 Tennessee, on $44,710, is $38,104 — equivalent to $41,187 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 $44,740 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 | $34,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,240 |
| This salary | $44,710 |
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 Tennessee | $38,104 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,104 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,975 |
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 | $44,710 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,389 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Tennessee earn under $44,710 and half over. The published range runs $34,880 at the tenth percentile to $55,240 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 Tennessee's $38,104, worked from $44,710. 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 353 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Tennessee, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,187, the adjusted value of that $44,710 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 353 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Tennessee, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,880 to $55,240; 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 Tennessee take-home of $38,104, on $44,710 for work ranking 353 of 491 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 353 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Tennessee, so $41,187 — the adjusted value of that $44,710 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 353 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,880 and the top tenth $55,240, so most people doing this work in Tennessee sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $41,187.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $38,104 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,880 to $55,240) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Tennessee rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Tennessee'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 $41,187 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Tennessee levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $38,104 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.