Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,429
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$9,211
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,872
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$50,640
Kept after tax
$41,429
Worth in national money
$42,872
State rank
4
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Vermont is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $50,640, which ranks 4 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 8.79% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Vermont, this sits in the middle: 313 of 453 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Vermont does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $50,640 you keep $41,429, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,872 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $54,310, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Vermont ranks 4 of 48 states publishing a median for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, at $50,640 — about 8.79% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic ranks 313 of 453 occupations in Vermont by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Vermont income tax, retained pay for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic on $50,640 is $41,429. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,872 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 $54,310 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 | $48,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,960 |
| This salary | $50,640 |
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 Vermont | $41,429 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,869 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,244 |
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 | $48,848 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,504 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 Vermont earn under $50,640 and half over. The published range runs $48,360 at the tenth percentile to $59,960 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 Vermont's $41,429, worked from $50,640. 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 313 of 453.
- Two cautions on $42,872, the adjusted value of that $50,640 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Vermont. 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 313 of 453 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Vermont, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,360 to $59,960; 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 Vermont take-home of $41,429, on $50,640 for work ranking 313 of 453 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 313 of 453 in the state.
- This $42,872 adjusted figure, worked from $50,640, 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 313 of 453 in the state. The occupation ranks 313 of 453 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $54,310, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $48,360 and the top tenth $59,960, so most people doing this work in Vermont sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Vermont is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $42,872 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; Vermont then takes its own share, leaving $41,429.
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 Vermont is $54,310. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,360 to $59,960) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $42,872 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 $41,429 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.