Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,657
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$8,393
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,523
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
$43,050
Kept after tax
$34,657
Worth in national money
$38,523
State rank
33
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Kansas. The middle earner gets $43,050. That is 33 of 49 states, and about 2.93% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 488 occupations Kansas publishes, this job lands at 369. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $43,050 you keep $34,657 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $38,523 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $42,480.
- For molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, Kansas sits in the lower band at $43,050, ranking 33 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 2.93%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Kansas, this work ranks 369 of 488 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.
- Retained pay in Kansas is $34,657 after the full tax stack, from $43,050. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $38,523 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,480 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,580 |
| This salary | $43,050 |
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 | $34,657 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,771 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$683 |
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 | $40,419 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$826 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,050 as a midpoint for Kansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,890 and the ninetieth is $50,580 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Kansas's $34,657, worked from $43,050. 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 369 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,523 uses one figure for the whole of Kansas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 369.
- The Kansas median of $43,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,890 to $50,580. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Kansas take-home of $34,657, on $43,050 for work ranking 369 of 488 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 369 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,523, worked from $43,050, 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 Kansas address, on work sitting at 369 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $32,890 and the top tenth $50,580, so most people doing this work in Kansas sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Kansas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $38,523 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Kansas's own levy, $34,657 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,890 to $50,580) 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 $38,523 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 $34,657 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.