Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,377
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$11,163
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,704
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$55,540
Kept after tax
$44,377
Worth in national money
$45,704
State rank
5
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Maine's middle earner gets $55,540, putting the state 5 of 49 — about 13.37% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 281 among 484 occupations Maine publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $55,540 the take-home is $44,377, which is worth about $45,704 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $57,860, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders, Maine sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $55,540, ranking 5 of 49 and running about 13.37% 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.
- Position 281 of 484 in Maine places mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders on its $55,540 median: $44,377 retained after tax becomes $45,704 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $57,860 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,430 |
| This salary | $55,540 |
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 Maine | $44,377 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,806 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,463 |
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 | $52,517 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,979 |
| 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 mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders in Maine earn under $55,540 and half over. The published range runs $39,420 at the tenth percentile to $80,430 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $44,377 take-home in Maine comes from $55,540. 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 281 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,704 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 281.
- Figures are distribution medians for mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,420 to $80,430; 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.
- Retained pay of $44,377, from $55,540, assumes a single Maine 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 281 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,704, worked from $55,540, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maine address, on work sitting at 281 of 484 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 $57,860 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,420 and the top tenth $80,430 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $45,704.
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; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $44,377.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 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 Maine is $57,860. 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 ($39,420) and the ninetieth ($80,430) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $45,704 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 $44,377 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.