Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Michigan
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,483
after federal, FICA and Michigan tax
Tax takes
$7,007
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,488
Michigan costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Michigan — 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
$39,490
Kept after tax
$32,483
Worth in national money
$34,488
State rank
44
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Michigan pays this job a middle wage of $39,490, 44 of 49 states and about 10.96% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Michigan this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 416. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Michigan is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $39,490 the take-home is $32,483; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,488 would nationally. The average comes to $43,800, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Michigan's $39,490 median for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic places it 44 of 49 states, about 10.96% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Michigan reports, molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 416 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Michigan, on $39,490, is $32,483 — equivalent to $34,488 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 $43,800 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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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 | $34,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,770 |
| This salary | $39,490 |
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 Michigan | $32,483 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,910 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$408 |
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 | $37,713 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$493 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
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 molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Michigan earn under $39,490 and half over. The published range runs $34,630 at the tenth percentile to $59,770 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,483 take-home in Michigan comes from $39,490. 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 416 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Michigan, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,488, the adjusted value of that $39,490 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 416 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Michigan, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,630 to $59,770; 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 $32,483, from $39,490, assumes a single Michigan 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 416 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Michigan, so $34,488 — the adjusted value of that $39,490 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 416 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 $43,800 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,630 and the top tenth $59,770, so most people doing this work in Michigan sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Michigan sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,488 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Michigan then takes its own share, leaving $32,483.
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 Michigan is $43,800. 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 ($34,630 to $59,770) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Michigan rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Michigan'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 $34,488 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 $32,483 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Michigan 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.