Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,328
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$5,682
14.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,326
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$40,010
Kept after tax
$34,328
Worth in national money
$35,326
State rank
43
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $40,010, ranking 43 of 48 states — about 13.34% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Texas, this one sits low: 386 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $40,010, tax leaves $34,328, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $35,326 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $41,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- Texas ranks 43 of 48 for molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic, with a median of $40,010 — about 13.34% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic occupies position 386 of 493 in Texas's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Texas sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for molders, shapers, and casters, except metal and plastic — median $40,010 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $34,328 retained, $35,326 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $41,900 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 | $28,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,270 |
| This salary | $40,010 |
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 Texas | $34,328 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $34,328 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,143 |
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 | $40,010 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,760 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $40,010 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,910 and the ninetieth is $57,270 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $34,328 take-home in Texas comes from $40,010. 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 386 of 493.
- Two cautions on $35,326, the adjusted value of that $40,010 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Texas. 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 386 of 493 locally.
- The Texas median of $40,010 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,910 to $57,270. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $34,328, from $40,010, assumes a single Texas 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 386 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 48 for it.
- This $35,326 adjusted figure, worked from $40,010, 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 386 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 386 of 493 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 $41,900 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,910 at the tenth percentile, $57,270 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Texas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $35,326 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $34,328 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 Texas is $41,900. 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 ($28,910 to $57,270) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Texas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas'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 $35,326 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $34,328 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.