Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,560
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,630
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,028
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$49,190
Kept after tax
$40,560
Worth in national money
$36,028
State rank
10
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $49,190, which ranks 10 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 6.54% above the national middle.
- Against 492 occupations California publishes, this job lands at 371. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $49,190, tax leaves $40,560 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $36,028 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $52,280, since top earners drag the number up.
- California ranks 10 of 48 states publishing a median for molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic, at $49,190 — about 6.54% 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.
- Within California, this work ranks 371 of 492 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.
- After tax, $40,560 remains from the California median of $49,190 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $36,028 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $52,280 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,720 |
| This salary | $49,190 |
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 California | $40,560 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,704 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,889 |
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 | $47,766 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,331 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
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 molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic in California earn under $49,190 and half over. The published range runs $37,790 at the tenth percentile to $70,720 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 California's $40,560, worked from $49,190. 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 371 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,028, the adjusted value of that $49,190 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 371 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic in California, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,790 to $70,720; 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 California take-home of $40,560, on $49,190 for work ranking 371 of 492 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 371 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $36,028 — the adjusted value of that $49,190 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 371 of 492 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 $52,280 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,790 at the bottom tenth to $70,720 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $36,028 of national purchasing power.
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 California's own levy, $40,560 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 California is $52,280. 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 ($37,790 to $70,720) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $36,028 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 $40,560 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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.