Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,880
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$9,480
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,105
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$47,360
Kept after tax
$37,880
Worth in national money
$42,105
State rank
17
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Kansas pays this job around $47,360 at the midpoint, 17 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 309 among 488 occupations Kansas publishes pay for.
- Kansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $47,360 the take-home is $37,880; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,105 would nationally. The average comes to $50,320, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic the Kansas median is $47,360, ranking 17 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.
- Position 309 of 488 in Kansas places molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic 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.
- Post-tax income for molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic in Kansas, on $47,360, is $37,880 — equivalent to $42,105 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 $50,320 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,780 |
| This salary | $47,360 |
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 Kansas | $37,880 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,234 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$701 |
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 | $44,430 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$848 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Kansas earn less than $47,360. The published range is $39,170 up to $61,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $37,880 take-home in Kansas comes from $47,360. 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 309 of 488.
- Two cautions on $42,105, the adjusted value of that $47,360 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Kansas. 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 309 of 488 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic in Kansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,170 to $61,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $37,880, from $47,360, assumes a single Kansas 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 309 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 48 for it.
- This $42,105 adjusted figure, worked from $47,360, 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 309 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 309 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $50,320, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,170 at the tenth percentile, $61,780 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $42,105 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Kansas adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,880 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 Kansas is $50,320. 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 ($39,170 to $61,780) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kansas'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 $42,105 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 $37,880 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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.