Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, & Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, & Tenders, Metal & Plastic in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,145
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$8,025
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,884
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$43,170
Kept after tax
$35,145
Worth in national money
$34,884
State rank
37
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Virginia. The middle earner gets $43,170. That is 37 of 48 states, and about 7.26% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Virginia publishes, this job lands at 398. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $43,170, take-home of $35,145 is worth roughly $34,884 in national money. The average comes to $43,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, Virginia sits in the lower band at $43,170, ranking 37 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 7.26%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Virginia, this work ranks 398 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic, whose median is $43,170, the adjusted figure of $34,884 differs little from $35,145 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $43,310 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 | $29,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,410 |
| This salary | $43,170 |
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 Virginia | $35,145 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,867 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,055 |
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 | $41,027 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,694 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Virginia earn less than $43,170. The published range is $29,310 up to $60,410, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $35,145 take-home in Virginia comes from $43,170. 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 398 of 489.
- Two cautions on $34,884, the adjusted value of that $43,170 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. 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 398 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for grinding, lapping, polishing, & buffing machine tool setters, operators, & tenders, metal & plastic in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,310 to $60,410. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $35,145, from $43,170, assumes a single Virginia 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 398 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 48 for it.
- This $34,884 adjusted figure, worked from $43,170, 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 398 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 398 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $29,310 and the top tenth $60,410 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $34,884 of national purchasing power.
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; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $35,145.
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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($29,310) and the ninetieth ($60,410) 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?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $34,884 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 $35,145 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.